The Animation Atlas: The Ghibliotheque Guide to the World of Animated Film

by Jake Cunningham, Michael Leader

Animation is a global artform, and The Animation Atlas is your essential guide to this exciting, expansive world.

From the duo behind the Ghibliotheque podcast and their bestselling books comes this whistle-stop tour through animated film history. A cartography of cartoons, The Animation Atlas will take in everything from titans of animation from Disney, Pixar and Studio Ghibli to pioneers, innovators and rising stars from the wider world of cinema.

A truly global history of animation - Each of the 30 chapters sets down in a different country to focus on local talent that has made a global impact on the form, from Spain to South Africa and China to Chile.

Box office hits and hidden gems - Features a dazzling selection of films, from the stop-motion wizardry of Laika Studios (Coraline), the claymation classics of Aardman Animations (Wallace and Gromit), and breakout Irish dreamweavers Cartoon Saloon (Wolfwalkers), to the works ofrevered artists such as Lotte Reiniger (The Adventures of Prince Achmed), Jan Švankmajer (Alice) and Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away).

Dozens of gorgeous illustrations - Includes more than 150 photographs, artworks and stills from some of the most beautiful animated films ever made. A perfect gift for film lovers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animation

192 pages, Hardcover

Published October 14, 2025

Reviews

[Crouton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great read for animation lovers. This book basically circles the globe, country by country and highlights animated film. While this book does explore some huge and popular titles and studios, it shines best when delving into much more obscure films from directors most people would have never heard of from every corner of the world.

Instead of a deep dive into these films and directors the book offers more of a short summary, as much as they can fit while trying to make a book that literally covers as many countries on Earth as they can. The only issue I had with this book is that it tended to focus on traditional forms of animation while subtly dismissing CGI works, which often have just as much hard work, creativity and artistry behind them. I would have liked the book to touch on CG films just a little more for the sake of variety.

[WAIA · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good start to a potentially much better exhaustive edition of something we might call an animation atlas. Better to refer to it as "An Animation Atlas". Still found out about some animated films I had never heard of, and in that sense, rather positive. Still I think there is a lot more proper work to be done in regards to the discussion of animation as an art as well as its cataloging. As any project with faults as with this one, it does begin to give someone dreams of the potentials of even better projects, and who cannot praise it for that atleast?

Also, the page-count on goodreads is incorrect and someone should probably fix it one of these days.

[Sophie Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. I share the authors' enthusiasm for these films and this, coupled with their vast knowledge of the subject, makes it an absolute must have. I already have their other brilliant books and this one is just as good - highly recommended.

[Kim B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's certainly good, but I wish it were twice as long and covered even more films.

[Rhonda Hankins]

This is a WONDERFUL reference book for anyone curious about animated films.

Key works from different countries are introduced. Lots of illustrations and photos, lots of information.

Really neat.

Now: will I be able to actually find any of these animations online?