Here's a spectacular addition to your alphabet collection, a chunky little pop-up book with a graphically thrilling rendering of each letter of the alphabet. No A is for apple here; each letter is its own celebration. The first clue is the holographic cover; depending on how you tilt the book, it's a big A, B, C, or D. Open to the first endpaper, and, against a solid flat black page, a heavystock 3-D white A pops up from the center. The next page is stark white, with a vertical bar of 15 thin red lines. Open the page all the way, and out slide two half circles made up of those same red lines to form the rest of the letter B. On the third page, a red letter C flips over to show a D on the other side. Turning each page feels like opening a little present and finding a surprise; when you finish, you'll want to go though it all over again. Who knew the alphabet was such a work of art?

If you want to have some fun, show your kids the terrific little YouTube video of the book, complete with backup vocals of the Boswell Sisters singing Roll On, Mississippi, Roll On. Find it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnZr0wiG1Hg. Art teachers or scout leaders doing a project on pop-ups are going to have a ball with this one. And I learned a new word while researching this book—the technology for making the hologram on the cover is known as lenticular printing.

Themes: ALPHABET BOOKS. PICTURE BOOKS FOR ALL AGES. TOY AND MOVABLE BOOKS.