With consistency in style and tone, this sprightly excursion through the alphabet is a combination of giddy verse and handsome pen-and-ink drawings. Each framed illustration, rich with soft color and delicate, sometimes cross-hatched lines, features a charming animal in natty eighteenth-century attire. It begins with “the Alligator who accidentally ate his waiter,” but there’s also room for “the tall Giraffe, who has a long and throaty laugh,” as well as “the Weasel, cunning master of the easel.” A clever concept executed in a striking theatrical design.