Reinhart, Matthew 1971-

views updated Jun 27 2018

Reinhart, Matthew 1971-

Personal

Born September 21, 1971, in Cedar Rapids, IA; son of Garry (an oral surgeon) and Judith Reinhart; partner of Robert Sabuda (an illustrator). Education: Clemson University, B.S. (biology; cum laude); Pratt Institute, degree (industrial/toy design).

Addresses

Home—New York, NY.

Career

Model maker, paper engineer, educator, and illustrator. Pratt Institute, New York, NY, instructor in paper engineering; Eye Bank for Sight Restoration, New York, NY, technician; model maker for Nickelodon and Newsweek.

Writings

SELF-ILLUSTRATED

Animal Popposites: A Pop-up Book of Opposites, Little Simon (New York, NY), 2002.

Young Naturalist's Handbook: Insect-lo-pedia, Hyperion Books for Children (New York, NY), 2003.

Cinderella: A Pop-up Fairy Tale, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2005.

The Ark, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2005.

The Jungle Book: A Pop-up Adventure, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2006.

Star Wars: A Pop-up Guide to the Galaxy, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 2007.

"ENCYCLOPEDIA PREHISTORICA" POP-UP SERIES

(With Robert Sabuda) Dinosaurs, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2005.

(With Robert Sabuda) Sharks and Other Sea Monsters, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2006.

(With Robert Sabuda) Mega-Beasts, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2007.

ILLUSTRATOR/PAPER ENGINEER

(With Balvis Rubess) Gary Greenberg, The Pop-up Book of Phobias, Rob Weisbach Books (New York, NY), 1999.

(With Robert Sabuda) The Movable Mother Goose, Little Simon (New York, NY), 1999.

(With Balvis Rubess) Gary Greenberg, The Pop-up Book of Nightmares, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2001.

(With Robert Sabuda) Young Naturalist's Pop-up Handbook: Beetles, Hyperion Books for Children (New York, NY), 2001.

(With Robert Sabuda) Young Naturalist's Pop-up Handbook: Butterflies, Hyperion Books for Children (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Robert Sabuda) Castle: Medieval Days and Knights, text by Kyle Olmon, illustrations by Tracy Sabin, Orchard Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Arthur Yorinks, Mommy?, illustrations by Maurice Sendak, Michael di Capua Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Margie Palatini, No Biting, Louise, Katherine Tegen Books (New York, NY), 2007.

(With Robert Sabuda) Encyclopedia Mythologica: Fairies and Magical Creatures, Candlewick Press (Cambridge, MA), 2008.

(With Robert Sabuda) Tomie de Paola, Brava Strega Nona!: A Heartwarming Pop-up Book, Putnam (New York, NY), 2008.

Books featuring Reinhart's paper engineering have been translated into numerous languages, including French, Arabic, German, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, Korean, and Slovenian.

Sidelights

As the son of a doctor, Matthew Reinhart began his academic career preparing for a career in medicine, until a visit to New York City and an introduction to artist Robert Sabuda changed his life. In addition to building a lifelong personal partnership, the two men also began using their artistic talent in volunteer projects, and this work inspired Reinhart to enroll in a degree in industrial/toy design at the prestigious Pratt Institute. Reinhart has since achieved acclaim for his innovations in the art of paper engineering, and his pop-up illustrations have been featured in original projects such as Animal Popposites: A Pop-up Book of Opposites, Star Wars: A Pop-up Guide to the Galaxy, and Cinderella: A Pop-up Fairy Tale, in addition to numerous collaborations with Sabuda. According to Booklist critic Jennifer Mattson, "the exciting dimensional art and numerous bells and whistles …" in Cinderella "should dazzle both kids and collectors like."

Reinhart and Sabuda's multi-volume "Encyclopedia Prehistorica" includes the volumes Dinosaurs, Sharks and Other Sea Monsters, and Mega-Beasts. Praised by a Publishers Weekly contributor as "playful and edifying," Dinosaurs instructs readers in the structural differences between different prehistoric species and supplement their multi-colored interactive dino-constructs with information on extinction, advances in paleontology, and other facts. Sharks and Other Sea Monsters takes readers down to the briny deep, where they meet the megalodon as well as sharks and other ancient swimmers. Mega-Beasts focuses on other ancient creatures, such as woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, and pterosaurs, and presents these creatures in what Booklist critic Carolyn Phelan described as "cleverly designed and beautifully crafted" paper sculptures of various sizes that "move … without a hitch."

In addition to his work with Sabuda, Reinhart has contributed interactive illustrations to Arthur Yorinks' Mommy?, a story that also includes artwork by noted artist Maurice Sendak. A Publishers Weekly critic described the book as a "light bite of spine-tingling fare," and listed among its strengths Reinhart's interactive "engineering feat": a miniature mummy-unwrapping mechanism hidden beneath one of the book's many flaps. The paper engineer and artist also creates two-dimensional illustrations for Margie Palatini's picture book No Biting, Louise, the story of a sharp-toothed young alligator with a penchant for nibbling where she should not. In augmenting Palatini's humorous verse, Reinhart "gleefully records the mayhem with nicely nutty watercolor-and-ink cartoons," wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor, while School Library Journal contributor Joy Fleishhacker dubbed Mommy? a "pop-up tour de force [that] abounds with humor, vibrant artwork, and visual fireworks."

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children about Their Art, Philomel (New York, NY), 2007.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July, 2005, Jennifer Mattson, review of Dinosaurs, p. 1929; November 1, 2005, Jennifer Mattson, review of Cinderella: A Pop-up Fairy Tale, p. 50; June 1, 2006, Jennifer Mattson, review of Sharks and Other Sea Monsters, p. 65; August 1, 2006, Jennifer Matson, review of Mommy?, p. 90; November 1, 2006, Carolyn Phelan, review of Castle: Medieval Days and Knights, p. 46; August, 2007, Carolyn Phelan, review of Mega-Beasts, p. 80.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October, 2006, Deborah Stevenson, review of Mommy?, p. 102.

Horn Book, September-October, 2005, Danielle J. Ford, review of Dinosaurs, p. 607; July-August, 2006, Danielle J. Ford, review of Sharks and Other Sea Monsters, p. 468; November-December, 2006, Christine M. Heppermann, review of Mommy?, p. 703; July-August, 2007, Danielle J. Ford, review of Mega-Beasts, p. 414.

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2003, review of Young Naturalists Pop-up Handbook: Insect-lo-Pedia, p. 1229; October 15, 2005, review of Cinderella: A Pop-up Fairy Tale, p. 1145; August 15, 2006, review of Mommy?, p. 855; May 15, 2007, review of Mega-Beasts; August 1, 2007, review of No Biting, Louise; October 15, 2008, review of Encyclopedia Mythologica: Fairies and Magical Beasts.

New York Times Book Review, November 11, 2007, David Pogue, review of Star Wars: A Pop-up Guide to the Galaxy, p. 41.

Print, March, 2000, Caitlin Dover, review of Pop Goes the Phobia, p. 12.

Publishers Weekly, June 3, 2002, review of Animal Popposites, p. 89; October 13, 2003, review of Young Naturalist's Pop-up Handbook: Insect-lo-Pedia, p. 82; June 20, 2005, review of Dinosaurs, p. 77; July 17, 2006, review of Mommy?, p. 155; September 3, 2007, review of No Biting, Louise, p. 57; October 6, 2008, review of Brava Strega Nona!: A Heartwarming Pop-up Book, p. 53.

School Library Journal, December, 2003, Margaret Bush, review of Young Naturalist's Pop-up Handbook: Insect-lo-pedia, p. 138; February, 2005, Kathy Piehl, review of The Ark, p. 126; September, 2005, Joy Fleishhacker, review of Dinosaurs, p. 195; September, 2006, Joy Fleishhacker, review of Mommy?, p. 188; November, 2006, John Peters, review of The Jungle Book, p. 109; July, 2007, Joy Fleishhacker, review of Mega-Beasts, p. 95; September, 2007, Donna Atmur, review of No Biting, Louise, p. 173; December, 2008, Joy Fleishhacker, review of Encyclopedia Mythologica, p. 115.

Science News, March 6, 2004, review of Young Naturalist's Pop-up Handbook: Insect-lo-pedia, p. 159.