Why pop up books?

I can't stand them. If I were to list my pet peeves, it would be near the top of the list along with bad spelling and the incorrect usage of who and whom. We received 2 pop up books about 6 months ago as a prize (long story) and I hid them in the best hiding spot I could think of at the time. Why did I hide them? Simple. It takes my children about 2 minutes to rip a pop up book and if I'm not paying attention 10 minutes to destroy it. We visited a bookstore once and Caroline was looking at a pop up book and the ripped an entire page in half. I bought the book out of guilt and immediately tossed it. Why do people make these? I know that children are entertained by them, but seriously, they last like 2 minutes before they get ripped by well-meaning and curious children who then cry and ask mommy to "fix it." Most of the time they aren't even fixable. Pop ups have gotten so complex that instead of a circus tent popping out of the fold of two pages, there is a merry-go-round with individual horses that move up and down as you pull at various tabs. Well, this evening Caroline found the forbidden pop up and I indulged her amusement with it. She turned each age was great interest and care and pulled at all the right tabs and watched the magic happen. A short time later, the book encountered stiff, but curious opposition in the form of a small little boy with a great big personality. He saw how interesting the book was and he pulled and twisted the pages until I heard "rrriiippp" followed by another rip until I realized that he had found the verboten book. Only one page has been destroyed, but I, a seasoned mom, know from experience that the next time the book is looked it, it will meet an untimely demise. Todd, disagrees with my views on these types of books, because he feels literacy trumps the occasional book shredding, but I doubt he has seen a sobbing child ask to give the book some medicine (or a bandaid) to make it better. The thing is, I hate hiding books from my children, because I want them to love reading and love books, but why o why are pop up books so easily torn and ripped? Books are like friends to us and I hate to throw them away, especially when the kids adore them. "Some Dogs Do" a recent favorite of the kids, found itself in the garbage after being ripped into tiny pieces by Isaac. I wish he would take care of my credit card offers, but still, he loves ripping paper. I think a lot of the time it happens by accident and then it becomes an interesting thing to do. Why does this bother me? I can't say for sure, but I know that there will be many more books that we will read to "pieces" before the kids are reading superstars. It is a small price to pay to learn to read so honestly I am not too concerned. I just don't plan on buying any pop up books if I can avoid it.