Opening the pages of J. Otto Seibold's new pop-up book is like falling through a rabbit's hole into a weird new world, where playing cards talk and caterpillars puff on hookahs and everything jumps out at you from angles and arenas you never expected, toying with your formally oh-so-reliable sense of well-being and balance.

In other words, you feel a lot like Alice lost in Wonderland - obviously Seibold's goal in co-opting Lewis Carroll's classic tale for his own wild and wonderful 3-D version.

Seibold, author of Olive, the Other Reindeer, Penguin Dreams and other children's popular books, has outdone himself in Alice in Pop-Up Wonderland (Orchard Books, Scholastic, $19.95).

On these pages, the type frequently changes size, color and style, as if to let readers know there will be no sure-footing here. Alice dines with the Mad Hatter at a table that pops off the page; meets the Queen of Hearts while a troop of playing cards leaps to the Queen's service; plays a mean game of croquet, using as her mallet a flamingo that actually moves.

The Cheshire cat disappears, leaving only his grin; Alice's neck grows until her head is off the page, invitations pop out of envelopes, and well, it's all exhilarating, entertaining and, yes, utterly exhausting.

Which is why when Alice's sister wakes her up at the end and says, "Why, what a long sleep you've had!" you'll be relieved this ride is over.

Just before flipping the book to the front and starting all over again.

Patti Thorn, books editor