cover image THE ALPHAZEDS

THE ALPHAZEDS

Shirley Glaser, , illus. by Milton Glaser. . Hyperion/Miramax, $19.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-7868-0865-6

In this alphabetical origin story, 26 personality types (i.e., typefaces) gather in an unfurnished room. First to arrive are Angry A, with knobby spikes on its cactus-like body, and Bashful B, a slender and shy blue Bodoni character. "What are you doing here?" demands A. "Excuse me…" appears above B in a quiet thought bubble. Next to come are Confused C and Dynamic D, a dark-red extrovert who yells "Ta-da!" regardless of what the others say. Elegant E enters as a fancy black script letter ("I dare say, it's getting a bit crowded"), and Flamboyant F, a voluptuous tapestry shape, sniffs, "I seem to be the only one here who knows how to dress." The Glasers, a married pair, invent outlandish partygoers like Kicking K, which lashes out at the other guests with its lower extension, and an R that speaks in silly rhymes. Designer Milton Glaser has created many distinctive, streamlined graphics, such as the "I ª NY" logo, but he allows for clutter and some visual clumsiness here. A Babel of hand-printed chatter fills the sharp-cornered spread, which recalls a minimalist stage set, and the bustling space resembles the Marx Brothers' shipboard closet. In a mock-biblical ending, the letters W, O, R and Dynamic D (still saying "Ta-da!") suddenly get together: "In the beginning there was the word." Readers tired of the same old Courier and Helvetica can look for a T pictured in Torino, V in Venus and Z in Zapf. Production insiders will applaud the Glasers' unique performance. All ages. (Sept.)