Product Description

There's never before been a book like Gallop! Employing a patented new technology called Scanimation, each page is a marvel that brings animals, along with one shining star, to life with art that literally moves. It's impossible not to flip the page, and flip it again, and again, and again. A first book of motion for kids, it shows a horse in full gallop and a turtle swimming up the page. A dog runs, a cat springs, an eagle soars, and a butterfly flutters. Created by Rufus Butler Seder, an inventor, artist, and filmmaker fascinated by antique optical toys, Scanimation is a state-of-the-art six-phase animation process that combines the "persistence of vision" principle with a striped acetate overlay to give the illusion of movement. It harkens back to the old magical days of the kinetoscope, and the effect is astonishing, like a Muybridge photo series springing into action�or, in terms kids can relate to, like a video without a screen. Complementing the art is a delightful rhyming text full of simple questions and fun, nonsense replies: Can you gallop like a horse? giddyup-a-loo! Can you strut like a rooster? cock-a-doodle-doo! Every child who opens the book will be amazed�and so will every parent.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2165 in Books
• Brand: Workman Publishing
• Published on: 2007-11-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .85 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 12 pages

Review
"Gallop, by Rufus Butler Seder, made an obvious case for itself with ooh-ah graphics, using trademarked Scanimation, a low-tech marvel of sliding paper and stripes. Turn the page, and you set black-and-white pictures of various animals into motion - that is, if certain short people ever let you turn the page. Your kids will elbow you out of the way. They will also elbow each other out of the way."
—The Washington Post (The Washington Post )

"At first glance, this looks like a regular old picture book—but the second you open it up, you'll be mesmerized. Thanks to a brand-new technique called "scanimation," the images on each page seem to move, as though you were watching a film instead of simply reading. Horses gallop, eagles soar—and young readers' jaws drop! It's the coolest book we've seen in a while."
—www.parenting.com, "Daily Favs" (Parenting.com )

"Readers will gasp with delight when they open this book, produced as paper-over-board: a hidden tab in each heavy page slides an acetate layer printed with vertical black lines over an encoded, detailed image of a horse, rooster, turtle or other creature, and the layers' interaction creates the illusion of motion. The black-and-white images openly reference the motion photography of Eadweard Muybridge (an influence that Seder acknowledges on the copyright page) and they contrast with the bright palette used for the spare, reader-directed text. ("Can you soar like an eagle?/ Whoosh-whoosh-glide!/ Can you swing like a chimp?/ Swoop-swoop-slide!") This book may encourage plenty of galloping—and jumping, running and bounding—on the part of young readers; adults will find it a marvel to look at in its own right."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review (Publishers Weekly )

"The pictures of animals, birds and fish seem to move with extraordinary naturalism… [The animals] are mesmerizing for all ages, especially for aspiring artists who will want to know how it's done."
—New York Times Book Review (New York Times Book Review )

About the Author
Rufus Butler Seder is the inventor of Lifetiles, glass-tiled murals that appear to come to life when the viewer walks by; he's installed them at the Smithsonian, Sea World, Union Station, and other museums, aquariums, train stations, and ocean liners around the world. He is also the founder of Eye Think, Inc., a company that develops and produces a line of toys and gifts using the technologies he's invented. Mr. Seder lives in Boston.

Customer Reviews

Kept one for me too!
I love gadgets of all kinds, and when I ran into this delightful book, I got several. My nephews adore it, as has every little one I've given it to among my friends' kids. The motion is an optical illusion created by passing a series of bars across a multi-positional figure. Each phase in the animal's gait is disclosed as the page is turned, creating a sense of movement. Included are a horse running, a rooster walking, a butterfly and eagle flying, turtles swimming, a monkey swinging from vines, and the familiar family dog and cat. They're all delightful. I even kept a book for myself as a coffee table edition.

Loved It
This is a wonderful book. A keeper. The colors are bright and the animation is awesome.

3 months and up
okay--so maybe this book doesn't have a plot or characters--but my 3 month old loves it! in fact, he actively looks at the movement on the page. this may not be the best most cost-effective read for a 3+ year old--but if you're looking to start a collection for a newborn--buy it. it's definitely visually captivating. this book will take you through the first year, when the other books bore your child to tears. for the youngest babes, gimmicks WORK. hold onto skippy jonjones and caps for sale for the older ones.