From Publishers Weekly
This high-concept abecedary, the picture book debut for de Vicq de Cumptich, should delight collectors of stylish picture books and aficionados of the graphic arts. Beautifully designed and executed in a limited palette of aqua, burnt orange, buttery cream, brown and black, the book's visual premise is the exceedingly witty manipulation of letters--in Bembo, a graceful serif font--to create each of the alphabetically correlative animals. Thus, for the letter "A," the artist stacks, tweaks, turns on end and interlaces the letters that spell "antelope" to form the creature's outline, and follows with the dextrous placement of the letters for "bison" and "crab," and so on all the way through to "yak" and "zebra." The images bristle with creative ingenuity--a circular fan of lowercase "L's" form a lion's mane, interlaced "W's" become the feathery design on an owl's wing and "S's" laid on their sides connect to suggest the gracefully fluted edge of a scallop's shell. The sassy self-portrait on the dust jacket (which spells out "Roberto") extends the conceit. Likely more appealing to an adult sensibility than to children just beginning to decode letters and words, this is an undeniably inventive and eye-catching book. All ages. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 6-Just as Lois Ehlert created bestiaries from shapes in Color Zoo (1989) and Color Farm (1990, both HarperCollins), de Vicq de Cumptich fashions them from "roman letters of the Bembo font family," using the shapes of the letters in the names of animals to create their forms. Thus, the page for the fifth letter of the alphabet features an upper and lowercase "E" (rendered in bright orange), the spelling of the word "elephant," and an intricately designed pachyderm comprised of small and capital black letters that make up the word, some used repeatedly. The point size varies to suit the shape needed. Using a palette of black, brown, green, orange, and cream, the author achieves striking page designs by varying background and foreground color, the number of animals to a double-page spread, and placement. The effect is curiously like wrought iron, a conceit that the author plays with on the title page (the zoo's entrance). Children who know the alphabet will delight in discerning the animals and discovering the individual letters within the witty and elegant pages. Pair this with Leonard Everett Fisher's Alphabet Art (Four Winds, 1984), Jonathan Hunt's Illuminations (Bradbury, 1989), or David Pelletier's The Graphic Alphabet (Orchard, 1996) for further consideration of the forms and functions of letters.
Wendy Lukehart, Dauphin County Library, Harrisburg, PA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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