Alphabet Books

From its corrugated red cover to all 26 of its funny illustrations, this alphabet book is vibrant and sure to please little kids. Each double page features a big-eyed, colorful zoo animal with the letter it represents and its name up on top. On the bottom of each spread is a four-line rhyme to read aloud (they don’t always scan right but oh well) that will additionally tickle alphabet learners. My favorites are the Koala and the Unicorn (okay, not a zoo animal, but the author explains he out it in to see whether readers are paying attention!). The graphics are outstanding.

A. Allison

Tundra Books is reissuing a fine series of locale-based alphabet books, “ABC Our Country.” These large, colorful paperbacks focus on Canada’s mountains, prairies, and plains. Some use alliterative sentences, others simpler prose; accompanied by original art, they showcase strikingly different artists. Among these, A Seaside Alphabet and A Big City Alphabet are two of my favorites. The sea coast is Nova Scotia or Maine and whales are there; so are puffins and kingfishers. Each of Tooke’s 26 realistic paintings is a watercolor artwork in itself, capturing seaside scenes full of action, excitement, enjoyment, and wonder.

Moak’s big city is Toronto and it looks delightful, painted here on canvas in bright, flat color.

Toronto’s diversity, its markets, its autumn, its Science Center, its citizens are richly represented. The result is an exuberant alphabet book with much to discuss for each letter’s illustration.

A. Allison

An introduction to art as well as an alliterative, poetic alphabet, Johnson’s books invites its readers to play with his paintings/collages by finding objects in the art that begin with the relevant letter. One has to look closely, and therefore comes to appreciate the very creative use of both objects and language. One page’s text will direct the reader to look for letters in other pages, making this a mystery Seek-and-Find as well as an alphabet, an appreciation to abstract art, and a lot of fun.

A. Allison

Done in a visually stunning style based on old-time travel posters into which the letters themselves are creatively part of the illustration, Mayer’s is a book for all ages; adults will notice and can point to aspects and perspectives young children might not see. Each page is a work of art lending itself to mutual enjoyment as readers take in the colors, the use of shadow, and the unique layouts. One example is the page for G, Gondola, which, like many other illustrations, shows a part of the vehicle or action and lets the imagination play with the perspective and setting. In the crowded market of alphabet books, this is a real stand-out.

A. Allison

Pearle’s alphabet is an artistic treat. Each letter has its own beautiful flat color page with the letters on the top right and just one word for each letter: a verb like “eat” or “kick,” right on since this is an alphabet about playing. It’s the illustration that is extraordinary. Pearle is a master of collage; she uses brilliant patterns for clothes and objects, a multi-colored cast of children, and jewel-like colors. Each picture, active or contemplative, reminds parents too of how children can make games out of simple things like mommy’s hat for dress-up or a drum to make music with a friend.

I recommend this beginner’s alphabet book highly.

A. Allison

This intriguing and lively history of language and alphabets starts with Sumerian pictograms and takes the reader on a journey with “Caravans, commerce, and conquest” to explain the spread of what turned into the Roman system of writing. Facts include that the Semitic name for “Ox,” “aleph,” became “A,” that we really have no way of knowing how these sounds were pronounced, and that the Greeks were the first to use “letter names that had no other meaning.” The order of letters in the alphabet hasn’t changed much “since Phoenician times,” but vowels in some languages are consonants in others. English has 26 letters but over 40 sounds—no wonder second-language learners struggle with English! The very well laid-out pages include lots of illustrations and inset information in pleasing colors, printing technology from Gutenberg to contemporary automated presses is discussed, and additional resources are listed at the book’s end. In addition to an alphabet history, there’s a lot of geography here too, making this an instructive as well as an enjoyable read.

A. Allison