In the season when visions of sugarplums dance in children’s heads, the work of Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart will create images that last far beyond Christmas.

They’re called “pop-up” books, but in reality these three-dimensional wonders of design could more aptly be labeled art-as-literature.

Sabuda’s “Winter’s Tale” features his signature expansive white paper sculptures accented with bold browns and greens, and tinged with silver, blue and lavender touches. It opens with a great owl whose wingspan reaches a foot, while a smaller paper design at the side reveals a family of field mice with pointed noses and curling tails.

Wild animals cavort in cardboard elegance and grace. In one remarkable foldout, white foxes take cover in a cave shadowed in blue and purple, with icicles of silver foil just above their heads. In a corner nearby, a rabbit pops up from the green bushes with a bright orange carrot in its jaws.

The scene takes on a luster when a waterfall unfolds and salmon swirl in the turbulent river. Winter’s chill “explodes,” Sabuda writes in the simple accompanying narrative.

The author’s love of wildlife – gained from a childhood spent walking the snowy woods of Michigan with his father – is evident in his detailed multidimensional renderings of squirrels in a tree, and a moose and beavers at play.

The final spread, a winter playland, is a reminder that life is the best inspiration for art.

Sabuda’s student and partner Matthew Reinhart has earned a wide following in his own right with brightly colored retellings of old favorite stories. Last year it was Noah’s ark; this season it’s his interpretation of “Cinderella.”

The fairy tale is given almost unimaginably intricate treatment, with multiple foldouts and pop-ups per spread. Like Sabuda, Reinhart loves silver and foil, giving six stunning steeds reins of sparkling ribbon and adding metallic tones to the transformed pumpkin coach.

Cinderella has ribbons, too, of blue sateen. Rabbits in the bushes come out to stare at her elaborate skirt, which stands out splendidly without the need of petticoats.

Perhaps most pleasing is the perfectly patterned fragile “glass” slipper, fashioned of clear plastic with silver accents that surprisingly give a feel for its elegance and delicacy. It unfolds into gentle curves.

Children and the adults who guide them through these books will examine them with awe and excitement. Delicate though the paper creations are, they are well-made and will endure for a long time if taken care of.

Even after the pages have become worn with use, the feelings of astonishment and joy they have created will continue.

Simon & Schuster (Little Simon imprint) has fostered both Sabuda’s and Reinhart’s careers, publishing many of their books to date and promising to print many more. “Winter’s Tale” is available for $26.95 and “Cinderella” for $24.95.

– Lois Henderlong is a freelance writer who has reviewed children’s books for publications across the Midwest. She lives in La Porte, Ind., and can be reached at loisirene@csinet.net.