ONE RED DOT

Carter’s fabulous homage to paper engineering (that doubles as a counting book) features ten intricate paper sculptures or interactive devices and a special charge for readers: Find the one red dot in each. (For the record, “red” here is actually a pinky-orange neon found in poster-paint kits and on roadside workers.) The first paper construction is “One perplexing puzzle box.” Indeed. As readers open the page, up pops a box sprouting dot-ridden tendrils. The red dot is not that easy to locate—it’s on one of 32 protruding flaps. The next paper sculpture features “Two twisting twirly gigs” and of course, “one red dot.” Three burning baskets follow, then four flip-flop flaps, five wiggle-wobble widgets, six fluttering flicker clickers (a spectacular fusion of sound and motion!), seven bouncing blue spots, eight obedient orbs (the biggest made with 18 intersecting paper circles), nine nimble nines (hanging from a lovely black tree) and ten coiling curlycues. All with one red dot, of course. While it won’t withstand abuse, it does seem sturdily constructed. Fun! (Pop-up. 4+)