DK Canda has a knack for creating beautiful coffee table books, whether they are aimed at younger readers, or older fans. Their works are always filled with details and brilliant pictures and illustrations.

Their new edition of  the Disney Pixar Character Encyclopedia continues this trend. Broken into sections that guide us through each franchise and the creations within them, and now newly updated to include Toy Story 4.

Sure you know Woody, Buzz, Wall-E, Lightening McQueen, Dug, Mike and Sully, but how about Giggle McDimples? Cruz Ramirez?

The book takes us joyously through the Pixar collection, each of the characters is given their own page which breaks down who they are, a favorite catch phrase (or memorable dialogue) if they have one, and gives the reader a fun little profile while also letting you know what films they appear in.

The book is filled with both the detail and the humor that we have come to expect from the films that have touched hearts and entertained families around the world. And of course, the pictures are stunning, because they come right from the digital source and practically leap off the page.

And while the book doesn’t go into the films (I won’t lie I’m hoping for some kind of titanic Pixar Archives book volumes one through whatever at some point in the future to pore over and love every bit of) it does give us practically every character who has had a spoken line of dialogue in the film (barring extras in crowd scenes – the daycare sequence of Toy Story 3 comes to mind in terms of toys and kids).

It’s bright, colorful, and as engaging as the Pixar movies it represents. This one works for all ages, it’s packed with detail (just like a Pixar movie – I love the section on Wall-E as it explains what most of the robot names are short for, or given their name in full and realizing that they are play on words) and makes for a fun read. And much like Pixar, it doesn’t talk down to its readers. The creative team behind the book must understand the mass appeal of the films and the characters and carved the text for it appropriately.

Each character page has little insets with images from the films the characters re in, and they just fire the memory with lots of ‘remember this?’ thoughts, and honestly, makes me want to go through all of the films all over again (though that first 15 minutes of Up is heartbreaking and tears me up each time through it – Pixar films man, they just get me).

Leafing through the book, revisiting characters, recalling the moments, the films, I find myself stuck on deciding (yet again) what my favorite Pixar film is. Happily I don’t have to decide, and can simply enjoy this beautiful book.

Pick up this DK Books release for the Pixar fan in your life today!