In Not Just Cartoons: Nicktoons! author Jerry Beck leaves the talking to the creators and producers of each program, and, not surprisingly, the more innovative the animator, the more interesting and off-the-wall his commentary is.

I don't know for a fact that Jerry Beck is the hardest-working man in animation, but I'm hard pressed to think of another contender for that title who matches Beck's recent output. In addition to overseeing the indispensable Cartoon Brew animation news blog and serving as a consultant on practically every major historical animated DVD release (the highly recommended Popeye, Woody Woodpecker and Looney Tunes sets among them), Beck somehow found the time in his schedule to write three art books for late 2007 release.

Not Just Cartoons: Nicktoons! provides a behind-the-scenes look at Nickelodeon Studios, one of the most prolific and influential producers of animation in the past two decades. As Cyma Zarghami, president of Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group, explains in the foreword, children's animation was a neglected market in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and Nickelodeon set out to fill that void.

And that void was filled with thousands of hours of programming, spanning more than 30 individual series, several spin-off feature films, best-selling DVD collections and one of the biggest tween-age merchandising juggernauts this side of the Disney Channel.

Beck leaves the talking to the creators and producers of each program, and, not surprisingly, the more innovative the animator, the more interesting and off-the-wall his commentary is. John Kricfalusi's matter-of-fact comments like "Why don't we make cartoons the real way, like back in the days when they didn't use scripts?" and "If you have to explain everything in words, you're not making a cartoon, you're writing a novel, and you're in the wrong business" are some of the boldest artistic statements in the book, while later Nickelodeon animators tend to make safer pronouncements, such as Steve Oedekerk's vague comment about the new series Barnyard, "I'm a big believer in solid input wrapped up in fun."

Beck's very thorough text provides readers with all they would want to know about the production of Bee Movie. The reproduction of production art in the book is top notch, but do we really need this many bee drawings?

While Ren & Stimpy's mission statement included recapturing everything that made cartoons of the past work so well, other early Nicktoons set forth to deliberately move away from what had come before. Jim Jinkins's Doug made use of an unconventional palette and sophisticated plotting that was unlike the material in previous children's television cartoons, and Klasky-Csupo's Rugrats represented a deliberate break from the accepted aesthetic style of young children's programming.

These three initial series set the tone for Nickelodeon's entire output. With Ren Höek, Angelica Pickles and Doug Funnie as parents, it's no wonder that more than a few ugly babies turned up in subsequent generations of Nicktoons. The Klasky-Csupo influence in particular is especially noticeable when one is confronted with the network's entire output. Given that Nickelodeon stakes its entire existence on generating output that's appealing to both children and parents, it's surprising that it so often goes for a deliberately "ugly" aesthetic that eschews traditional cartoon cuteness.

The book itself doesn't dig too deep when it comes to finding out just what makes Nickelodeon's animators tick, and readers will find very little axe-grinding contained within this volume's green-slime-infused covers. According to the creators' testimonials that lead off each chapter, there seems to be a universal acknowledgment that Nickelodeon provides a fun, nurturing environment, and allows its animators a rare degree of creative control and freedom so they can produce their best possible work. Events such as John Kricfalusi's acrimonious and very public split with Nickelodeon are ignored entirely, which is probably to be expected in a book that relies so heavily on the studio's cooperation and input. The overall design of the book is, appropriately enough, bright, big and flashy, which suits the concept art, cels, paintings and storyboards reproduced inside, and should appeal to just about anyone in Nickelodeon's target audience.

Of less interest to the casual fan is The Art of Bee Movie, which includes a foreword by the film's star, co-writer and producer, Jerry Seinfeld. His introduction explains the humble origins of the project, which began as an offhand comment made to Steven Spielberg over dinner. "There was a little lull in the conversation, and literally just to fill it, I said, 'What about a movie about bees called Bee Movie?'" A few years and thousands of man-hours later, the result hit theaters in fall 2007 to solid ticket sales and lukewarm reviews, and the entire experience is captured in this deluxe hardcover from Chronicle Books.