ABC Animals! A Scanimation Picture Book

Rufus adds an abecedary to his bestselling line of Scanimation titles, which create the illusion of animals in motion as the pages turn, through the interplay of printed and acetate layers. With the exception of the opening and closing pages (featuring an alligator and a zoo), the other animals appear four to a spread in a grid of animated boxes opposite the corresponding upper- and lower-case letters. As usual, the attention to the animals’ physical movements is impressive (particularly in the case of a bulbous jellyfish’s propulsion), but the now-familiar Scanimation element isn’t really enough to make this stand out among other excellent alphabet books available. Ages 1–5. (Oct.)