ABC Pop!

With a tip of her hat to such '60s icons as Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg, Isadora (The Little Mermaid) whips out a zinger of an ABC book. Playing her retro riff across the pages, she blends strongly linear graphics and repetitive images with such signature elements of pop as polka-dot shading and bold, cartoon-like outlining. For the letter H, for instance, a trio of hot dogs parade across a white background, while a quartet of pigs in harmonious shades of pink, green and blue do a Warholesque turn for the letter P. Primary colors combine with accents in aqua, hot pink and avocado green to resurrect (and even superimpose) visual puns from the past, such as a daisy, that ubiquitous '60s symbol, held by The Manchurian Candidate's Queen of Hearts (for the letter Q, of course). The book ends with a ""Zing! Zoom! Zap!"", the words encased in the kind of explosively jagged comic book bubbles that mark Roy Lichtenstein's works. Even the endpapers and dust jacket continue the theme, as a sassy ""Bye-Bye"" bids readers farewell from the back cover. Baby boomers will find this artistic homage a nostalgic hoot, while their offspring will appreciate its verve. All ages. (May)