A new coffee-table book chronicling the animated hstory of Nickolodeon's Nicktoons will hit the shelves of major retailers this month. NOT JUST CARTOONS: NICKTOONS (Melcher Media, $40.00), edited by Jerry Beck, is the first book to cover the entire Nicktoons story that began on Sunday, Aug. 11, 1991, when Nickelodeon first unleashed REN & STIMPY, DOUG and RUGRATS on an unsuspecting nation.

In addition to providing an in-depth look at such cultural icons as THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS, HEY, ARNOLD!, THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY NEUTRON, BOY GENIUS, SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, and AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER, the book also explains the creatively fueled Nicktoons "system," where artists and writers rule at the state-of-the-art Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, the first animation studio to be built in Los Angeles in more than 30 years.

Also, a first in publishing history, the hardcover book is slip-covered in Nickelodeon's iconic green slime, making it by far the squishiest and most playful book of the season.