BEMBO'S ZOO

A publishing house's creative director frolics in the fields of type and graphic design, assembling a menagerie from upper and lower case alphabets of the graceful roman `Bembo` font. Using only the unmodified letters of each animal's name, de Vicq de Cumptich creates stylized but easily recognizable figures; a row of N's becomes the spines along a dragon's back, C's become a crab's claws, the peacock's tail is a whirl of e's and o's. Sharply contrasting colors and large, strongly drawn letter forms give every spread eyewidening visual impact, and like Suse MacDonald's Alphabatics (1986) or Leonard Everett Fisher's ABC Exhibit (1991), this will inspire appreciation both for its ingenuity and for its revelation of the subtle qualities that make letters beautiful. (Picture book. 7-9, adult)