Product Description

B is for boy . . . but in Alison Jay’s ABC, B also stands for basket, beehive, and butterfly. Featuring a simple format and bright paintings, this acclaimed alphabet book is perfect for toddlers. Older readers are encouraged to look and look again as each spread reveals a new perspective on what has come before and intriguing hints of what’s still to come.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77305 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Board book
• 32 pages

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2-An inventive and beautifully illustrated book. Each page features a scene highlighting one object (apple, balloon, cow, etc.), the corresponding upper- and lowercase letter, and a simple declarative sentence ("a is for apple"). Most of the items will be familiar to young listeners. Each featured object is surrounded by several smaller things that begin with the same letter, as well as a tiny image of the key item on the following page. Thus, young readers can play "I Spy" and reinforce their understanding of the letter and its sound. The pictures add another dimension, telling an underlying story, as a woman bids farewell to a man who embarks on a journey that leads him to exotic settings where he encounters many of the featured objects. This element of fantasy is sure to provide smiles of recognition and delight. The final picture brings everyone and everything together in a nontraditional zoo. As in Jay's Picture This- (Dutton, 2000), the illustrations are captivating. The watercolor washes are done over backgrounds that simulate crazed porcelain, lending an old-fashioned feel to the paintings. The colors are easy on the eye, and the scenes are filled with marvelous detail, a clear sense of movement, and more than a touch of whimsy. A list of the items included appears at the end. More extensive than Bruno Munari's ABC (1960; Chronicle, 2003), this is a sure bet for youngsters who like to participate actively while learning their letters.
Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* PreS-Gr. 2. Similar in look and concept to Jay's Picture This (2000), this imaginative alphabet book offers visual clues to track and a story to tease out in its beautiful paintings. Each picture focuses on one large item that corresponds to a letter in the alphabet, named below the picture. For "C is for cow," a cow with an elongated body arches across a sky spreading over a landscape dotted with other items having names beginning with the letter C (a car and a cat, for example), which show up again in later pictures. The woman driving the car appears in many pictures, as does a man, first seen in a hot-air balloon, who goes on a trip and corresponds with the woman. Older children will flip from page to page, finding the simple story, drawing connections, and naming the letter-related objects. Younger ones can simply enjoy the delightful paintings with their crackle-glazed folk art look and touches of humor, including a bespectacled giraffe trimming topiary, an owl wearing a pence nez, and other animals who appear together for the last letter and word, the inevitable "z is for zoo." Kathleen Odean
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Alison Jay won the Children’s Illustration Prize for a painting that appears in Picture This . . . . She lives in London.

Customer Reviews

A new discovery at each reading...>!
I love reading this book to my 7 month old. The illustrations are gorgeous for adults to enjoy and whimsical and fun for children to gaze at. Every time we read it, I find something new I hadn't seen before -- it's such an inventive book with a lovely little "storyline" and connections between pages. We'll never get bored with it!

Beautiful illustrations!
I bought this book for my 3 year-old son and he loves it. The illustrations are really beautiful and it is a sturdy book that is perfect for young children. I highly recommend this book.

Makes the Alphabet Exciting for Children and Adults Alike
I recently discovered _A B C: A Child's First Alphabet Book_ by Alison Jay. What a delight! Each letter of the alphabet is given a full page, if not a two-page spread. The text is very simple, following the "A is for apple" format. Both upper- and lowercase versions of the target letter are shown.

The art, however, is extraordinary! It usually occupies most of the page with the target object most prominent. The subtleties, though, are what give this book its whimsical charm: other objects on the page that begin with the same letter (they are all listed on the last page) and the recurrence of objects throughout the book. Nearly every page contains as a small, obscure detail the object that will be prominently featured with the next letter of the alphabet. Sometimes these are embedded secondary details -- in the pattern of a plate, for example, or on the cover of a book.

Jay's book contains all the seeds for the discovery and excitement that prompt a child to exclaim, "Look! That's just like . . ." and scurry back through the pages, searching for the remembered image. The suggestion of a story line is there, too, with an explorer, a map, and a treasure chest.

I am so grateful to have discovered Alison Jay (both author and illustrator). _A B C: A Child's First Alphabet Book_ is the first book I have bought for my first grandchild, due to be born next month.