Jim Curious: A Voyage to the Heart of the Sea by Matthias Picard

In black and white images, a boy walks out his house.  With a klang, he emerges and takes steps with a loud bong since he’s wearing a diving suit.  Turn the page, put on your 3D glasses, and once the boy enters the water the magic starts to happen.  Jim is now exploring.  He passes a sunken car and a long pipeline, but soon reaches the open ocean.  As the pages turn, the 3D effects are gasp-worthy and so well done.  Readers and Jim together are on an amazing journey at sea.

A nearly wordless book, this is true immersion.   I’m not usually a fan of books with gimmicks but the 3D is put to such incredible use on the page here that I found myself immediately drawn in.  It is so effective that you will find yourself reaching out to touch parts of the image that seem closest and then feel shocked when you touch a flat page.  It happened to me time and again. 

While this may not be ideal to circulate at libraries since the glasses will quickly be lost, this is a great gift book that is definitely worth exploring.  Appropriate for ages 4-10.

Reviewed from copy received from Abrams Books for Young Readers.