Gallop

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.

"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

"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. Parenting.com

"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

"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

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."

Employing a patented new technology called Scanimation, each page in this book is a marvel that brings animals, along with one shining star, to life with art that literally moves. Complementing the art is a delightful rhyming text full of simple questions and fun, nonsense replies.

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.