Creatures is a beautifully produced, full-colour alphabet book full of surprises. It’s not the sort of book that teaches upper and lower case letters. Rather, it’s a guessing game – you search the elegant wordless plates, each with a decorative initial, for clues to the words beginning with that letter. The more worldly readers will recognize the homages to Klimt and Grandma Moses, and references to other historical and mythological figures. Those less worldly will have to check the alliterative notes at the back.

Certainly this book is a treat for anyone who appreciates good design. And so it should be, since Newfeld has long been one of the country’s most influential graphic and book designers. Though a children’s writer himself, he is best known in the children’s book world as the illustrator of Alligator Pie and other Dennis Lee collections.

For this book he designed an original typeface of spiky, fairy-tale initials, the perfect complement to his stylized woodcut-like pictures. The striking cover illustration of a white unicorn against a mat of bright flowers, with gold titles and trim, is characteristic of the art: jewel-like colours, art history inspiration (here, medieval tapestry), and clever details. Rather like the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in which dragon sightings are mixed in with weather reports, the fantastic and mundane carry equal weight. There is a definite taste for (mild) gore – severed heads pop up in “J for Judith and Holofernes” and “R for Robespierre and the French Revolution.” Young horror fans will particularly enjoy “F for Frankenstein’s formidable fish-fest,” “L for Lucifer,” and “V for a vampire in Venice.”

Children 8 and up (and adults, of course) seem the book’s natural audience, but younger readers should still appreciate Newfeld’s drawing, invention, and sense of fun.