Flip Flap Theater

A CURTAIN-RAISER A bizarre creature-part zebra, part insect, camel, maybe dragon-takes center stage in Eva Johanna Rubin's Flip-Flap Theatre: A Mix-and-Match Book. The theater ""book"" has spiral binding on either side, so readers can flip its four sets of flaps to create a seemingly endless array of composite performers, clad as if for a circus in fanciful costumes and extravagant hats (the cover copy claims 38,416 performers in all). Rubin's brightly colored folkloric art evokes the geometric and floral patterns of Eastern Europe.