Providence Activities

Interview with Robert Sabuda:

Robert talks about his rendition of Alice

Why did you decide to do a pop-up version of ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND?

After traveling back in time (100 years) to explore the world of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, it only seemed natural to go back a bit more and explore Alice's journey! I just love the idea of a character being thrown completely out of their element and then being able to share their failures and victories as they try to find their way back home.

Did you read ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND when you were younger?

Yes, I did and I couldn't believe how mean all the adults were to her! I realize we're reading the story now from a 21st century perspective but it's difficult for me to understand how the grown-ups could be so nasty to her. This made me like the story even more since I knew at the end should would realize how unimportant all the adults were!

How did you decide which scenes to illustrate from the story?

I think that most of us who are familiar with the story think of it terms of individual scenes of well, to put it nicely, strange lunacy! Yes, there is wonderful word play in the text but there's nothing like the image of a baby turning into a pig. So I picked the best moments of weirdness I could find to create the pop-ups.

Which pop-ups were the most difficult to create?

All those cards on the last page took FOREVER to work out. And since I'm so detailed oriented I wanted to make sure that I didn't repeat a card's face the wrong number of times, so there are EXACTLY two full decks of playing cards (minus jokers) on that spread. Who knew a deck of cards could cause so much trouble!

How long did you work on ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND?

A typical pop-up book can take between eight months to two years to complete. Alice (thankfully!) fell somewhere in-between at about a year.

The text in your pop-up is a faithful adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic story and the illustrations are done in the style of John Tenniel, the original illustrator of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Why was it important to you to pay tribute to the classic story?

I'm a firm believer in "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." As far as I'm concerned, there really is no way to improve on the original. It can only be reinterpreted (and very subtly at that) for a new generation of readers and listeners.

Since your pop-up version of ALICE's ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND is so faithful to the original, did you find it difficult to put your own artistic interpretation into it?

Not at all! When you have creative geniuses like Lewis Carroll and John Tenniel as guides, there's no way to get lost on an artistic path. I was only inspired to make my work even better to match what they had so lovingly put on paper.

You have illustrated and paper engineered holiday themed pop-up books such as THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS and THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS, as well as adaptations of classic stories, such as THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ. Do you prefer one type more?

I don't have a preference as long as I'm interested in the story or subject. It has to be a pop-up book that I would have liked when I was a boy. Someone once told me I should make a pop-up book about motorcycles. Well, I guess I could, but motorcycles don't really interest me so I know I would never do a book like that.

Do you know what your next pop-up book will be?

America has been going through such challenges over the past few years that I've decided to pay tribute to it. My next book is tentatively titled "America the beautiful."