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Walden Then & Now: An Alphabetical Tour of Henry Thoreau’s Pond by Michael McCurdy

McCurdy has outdone himself in this latest book featuring his woodcut illustrations.  This book is an alphabet book that is not for preschoolers but perfect for elementary children wanting to learn more about Thoreau and his time at Walden Pond.  Each letter of the alphabet is matched with a word from Thoreau’s book that illustrates some of the most important and basic tenets of his time in the woods.  Many of the letters stand for different creatures in the forest, but others are less tangible like J for joy and Q for quiet.  After each letter and the object it stands for, McCurdy summarizes why that object was important to Thoreau.  It is here that the philosophy and point of view become very clear even to young readers.

What can one say about a master illustrator like McCurdy?  His illustrations feel so right paired with Thoreau as a subject matter.  It may be the timeless nature of the woodcut but it is also the simplicity of the illustrations that work so very well.  Many of the illustrations stopped me for a time and I lingered just with the image for a bit.  They so capture moments and bring one directly back to Walden Pond.

The text of the book is successful as well as it hearkens back directly to Thoreau as well.  Thoreau’s own journey is written clearly and thoughtfully.  By lingering on the things that he lived with during his time in the woods, readers will discover how universal his journey was for all of us.

This is a thoughtful book that resonates with a love of solitude and nature.  Appropriate for ages 7-9.

Reviewed from copy received from Charlesbridge.

The book trailer captures the spirit of Thoreau and this book very nicely:

Hi everyone! You may remember my ABC Circus series I had started a couple months back. Well, since I’ve been really getting into working digitally. I’ve decided to revisit this series and redo the final pieces. I’ve only done the letters “R” and “P”. You can see the previous watercolor versions here. Tell me which version [...]

The Most Amazing Hide-and-Seek Alphabet Book. Robert Crowther. 1999/2010. August 2010. Candlewick. 12 pages.

I wouldn't necessarily say this alphabet book is the most amazing alphabet book I've read. I've read a few alphabet books that focus on animals. And I've read a few novelty alphabet books that use flaps, tabs, and pop-ups. This one is no better, no worse.
My favorite letters: K, M, O, T.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Click, Clack, ABC. Doreen Cronin. Illustrated by Betsy Lewin. 2005/2010. Simon & Schuster. 24 pages.

Animals awake
Beneath blue blankets.
Clickety-clack!
Duck dashing,
Eggs emptying,
Flippity-flip!
Goats grooming,
Hens helping,
Inchworms inching.

I always wanted to be a teacher. By six I settled on education as my vocation and never changed my mind again. The age-level choice evolved over the years, but I knew that the world of chalkboards (now whiteboards) and grade sheets (now Excel spreadsheets) was where I belong. My first teaching experience was corralling all the unsuspecting kids from the neighborhood to come to my “school” on weekends and summer vacations. Since the internet was still just a big military secret, television had only three channels, and “handheld games” actually meant checkers or Candyland, they were enthusiastic at first. Until I assigned real homework at my pretend school. After that, I had to catch ‘em young or not at all. Another early teaching experience has stayed with me all this time. I spent two years teaching preschoolers basic kindergarten readiness. One of the most surprising and sad aspects of the job was realizing that, although they could reach the highest level of any video game, some of them couldn’t even recognize the first letter of their own name. How did that happen? How could their caretakers let it happen? It wouldn’t be a problem if they were Shaker children, apparently. To avoid the very deficit of which I speak, the Shakers long ago developed the Shaker Abecedarius to teach each child their letters by rote. A Peaceable Kingdom, illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen makes learning the alphabet as easy as A, B, C.

http://www.amazon.com/Peaceable-Kingdom-Shaker-Abecedarius-Picture/dp/0140503706

http://www.jstor.org/pss/27546611

Sleepy ABC. By Margaret Wise Brown. Illustrated By Karen Katz. Text, 1953. Illustrations, 2010. HarperCollins. 40 pages.

Karen Katz illustrates Margaret Wise Brown's Sleepy ABC. I was not familiar with this Brown title. Brown is of course best known for her books Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. This one is fairly obvious--an alphabet bedtime book.

A is for Aaaah when a small kitten sighs
B is for Baaaaaa when the lambs close their eyes
C is for Caw when the last crow crows
D is for Dreams and the Dark Wind that blows
E is for Eyes that all must close--the child's, the rabbit's, and the rose.
F is for Feet that won't fall asleep
G is for Grazing of sleepy sheep

Country Road ABC: An Illustrated Journey Through America's Farmland. Arthur Geisert. 2010. May 2010. 64 pages.

I liked this one. It's not an alphabet book for the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom crowd. But I think it would pair very well with Farm by Elisha Cooper a title I reviewed just last month. This isn't your typical cute-picture-book-set-on-a-farm type of book (like Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type or Farmer Duck). Readers know that from the start...

A is for Ammonia Fertilizer
B is for Barn Cats
C is for Coffee and Candy
D is for Disking
E is for Erosion

A glossary at the back provides readers with more information about each word. For example, "disking is a method of turning over soil in preparation for the planting of oats, corn, and soybeans."

What I loved most about this one are the illustrations.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Possum and Wattle: A Big Book of Australian Words by Bronwyn Bancroft

This alphabet book takes readers on a journey through Australia.  Mixed in with words that are familiar, like ants and apple, are fascinating words like adze, bandicoot, and dingo.  The book is illustrated with the Aboriginal art of Bronwyn Bancroft, a Bundjalung artist who demonstrates her skill and knowledge of Australian through her art.  The art is filled with dots, amazing color combinations, and energy.  It is through Bancroft’s art in particular that readers really get to see frogs, fish and other mundane words with a new eye.  In the art, they become fantastical, strange and uniquely beautiful.

I appreciated the mix of the normal words with Aboriginal ones.  The combination makes the book inviting and intriguing at the same time.  I am also in awe of the art here.  It is accessible to children, beautifully rendered and so very evocative of the region.  The result is a book that truly is Australia between two covers.

Highly recommended, this book opens the world of Australia to young readers who will probably want to learn far more.  Appropriate for ages 2-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Lights on Broadway: A Theatrical Tour from A to Z by Harriet Ziefert, illustrated by Elliot Kreloff, with Brian Stokes Mitchell

This A to Z book takes readers into the world of the theater, teaching the words that go with the shows.  From grip to marquee, readers will find plenty of words they don’t know.  But this book is much more than vocabulary because alongside each definition, there are quotes from Broadway actors, directors, choreographers, composers, writers and more.  This book is pure inspiration for those who have the acting bug and who long to be on stage. 

Ziefert and Kreloff have created a book that captures the excitement, glitz and joy of the stage.  Ziefert offers definitions that convey an excitement about the subject, always avoiding being dry.  Kreloff’s art is loud, bright and nicely stylized, suiting the subject matter perfectly. 

Give this to young actors and class clowns. It could also be used when doing a production in class to give a sense of what the larger picture of performing is.  A joyful riot of a picture book, this book will serve as the basis for many big dreams.  Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Sommer Reading and Read Along with Biblio.

Zuckerman, Andrew. 2009. Creature ABC. Chronicle Books.

Wow. Wow. Wow. This may just be my favorite alphabet book ever. It's so clever. It's so fun. It's one of those books with again-again appeal. What makes this one so great? The photographs of the animals? Yes. Mostly. But sometimes it's more than that. It's how the animals are presented. It's the way they're presented. It's the style and charisma of the photographs that makes this one wow-worthy. It's what makes this one equally appealing to adults. How many alphabet books have the power to engage adults?

How does this one work? Well, there's a two page spread featuring the letter itself--upper and lower case. This page also features a sneak-peek of the animal. (I love what he did with A, by the way!) And then there's another two page spread naming an animal (or in some cases many animals) that represents that letter. (As you might have guessed, Ee is for Elephant.) The book also features a glossary of facts for each animal represented in the book.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Creature ABC by Andrew Zuckerman

See the cracks in the toenails of an elephant.  Marvel at the scarlet of a rooster’s head.  Sink into the fur of a wolf.  From A to Z, Andew Zuckerman has created photographs that are so detailed, so close and so astounding that you will find yourself bumping your head on the page as you lean in to get a better look.  The photographs are so well done that you can see the texture of skin, count individual hairs, and realize the difference between different types of fur. 

This is an ABC book, but for me that is little more than an order to put the photographs in.  Readers much older than the ABC crowd will be fascinated by the images.  Children who love animals will adore this book.  Expect to see many smudges as fingers big and small try to feel the fur or pet the animals through the page. 

One of the problems for libraries will be where to shelve this.  Yes, it is an alphabet book, but it just might be better loved in the animal nonfiction section.  Either way, this is a great purchase for libraries and one that children will read again and again.

Reviewed from copy received from publisher.

Also reviewed by Pink Me, A Year of Reading, and Fuse #8.

Doodler (Goldman), Todd H. 2009. The Zoo I Drew. Random House. (July 28(ish) publication)

This one's a keeper. And not just for zoo keepers either. Though this one boasts that it is "zoo-keeper approved." (And who am I to doubt Todd H. Doodler?!) I loved this one. Loved it. It had me at hello. Its bright red cover is fluted; I loved feeling all the ridges--made it so much more appealing. The art is fun and playful. But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. The Zoo I Drew is an animal (well zooish) alphabet book for youngsters. Each letter has an animal and a rhyme to go along with it.

A is for Alligator...
With a mouth full of teeth
and a body that's covered in scales.
The alligator likes to bask in the sun
and swim with it's powerful tail.

M is for Monkey
Hanging from its tail,
The monkey likes to play around.
It swings from tree to tree
And seldom touches the ground.

Back in March I worked on a “Missing You” greeting card for RSVP/Ronnie Sellers. A box of samples came in the mail late last week and I was pleased as to how nice the card looked, with the vibrant colors, the white border (which I hadn’t anticipated, as I created the card for a bleed), [...]

Realistic 3D illustration with a character developed for the client. The client develops video titling software, so letters are a central part of it.

More at Sevensheaven.nl

I'm thinking this might make a decent promotional piece. Boy I'll need some fairies to sprinkle some kind of pixie dust for me to have time to figure out the next post - which I see that I'm behind on. Luvin' this W.W. thang, though:)

A Childs' Day: An Alphabet of Play. Pearle, Ida. 2008: Harcourt, Inc.

Ladybug was thrilled when Miss Becky passed this book on to Snugglebug to review. The art is bright and stimulating. Snugglebug loved this book. The art keeps his attention while the text introduces the alphabet.

Alphabet Animals: A Slide and Peek Adventure. Macdonald, Suse. 2008, Little Simon (Simon and Schuster).

This book is a Caldecott Honoree for good reason. Macdonald has taken the alphabet and made it appealing to the youngest audience. Each page is a single animal in the shape of the letter. Within that page is a sliding page with the letter in block form and the animal name underneath.

An alligator illustrates the letter A, and a bird represents the letter B, and so on. The illustrations are bright and clear. The letters are easy to recognize in the animal shapes and the pull-out pages are so much fun. Snugglebug enjoys seeing the page pop out from nowhere.

At almost one year of age, Alphabet Animals is the perfect introduction to the alphabet. Ladybug hopes he will learn his alphabet at a very early age, paving the way to a lifetime of reading.

I may not like dentists all that much. But that doesn't stop me from appreciating them either. This is an alphabet book about dentists, teeth, and good dental hygiene. It may not be a "fun" book, but it does provide a good amount of information.



© Becky Laney of Young Readers

This is a rather unique alphabet book. It's the alphabet in triplicate--English, Spanish (Espanol), and French (Francais).

It's international too since it was published in Canada.

This book is simple and bright. You've got each letter on display (including a few sounds that aren't found in the English alphabet) being illustrated through bright and colorful pictures and through text as well. Some words are the same--Qq and Rr for example--others are quite different. The brightness of the illustrations and the simplicity of the design are what makes this one stand out in my book.

I liked it.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Aa: A Was An Apple Pie. Illustrated by Etienne Delessert.

This picture book is actually an English nursery rhyme from the 1660s. Something used by children to aid in learning the alphabet. It is illustrated by Etienne Delessert.

Aa A was an apple pie
Bb B bit it
Cc C cut it
Dd D dealt it
Ee E ate it.
Ff F fought for it

To read it in its entirely, visit here.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers

Author: Wendy Ulmer (on JOMB)
Illustrator: Laura Knorr (on JOMB)
Published: 2008 Sleeping Bear Press (on JOMB)
ISBN: 1585363197

Chapters.ca Amazon.com

Smiling eyes, tumbling rhyme and richly illustrated mischief take centre stage in this roundabout romp through the alphabet.

Other books mentioned:

• Alphabetter

Be sure to pop over to In Search of Giants for today’s full menu of poetry offerings. Poetry Fridays are brought to us by Kelly Herold of Big A, Little A.