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: #35179 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Board book
• 32 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780525475248
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

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

It grows on you...
I wasn't especially impressed when I first saw this book. A is for apple, B is for balloon, C is for cow, basic stuff. The only thing interesting was "X marks the spot" instead of "X is for X-ray or Xylophone".

Then I realized that I'd seen many of the creatures in Z is for zoo earlier in the book.

So I re-read it. Several re-reads later, I realized that there was a tentative story in this book. Do the women and the man love each other? They write letters. Hearts are a periodic motif. The woman paints, the man explores. Do they miss each other?

So maybe a toddler won't understand that. But this is an alphabet book they'll read past toddlerhood.

Wonderful book
This is a wonderful book for babies up to preschool. The pictures are simple at first, but the harder you look the more you see. My two year old enjoys shouting out everything she sees in the pictures. It is fun for us as parents to read as well. We try to find everything with that letter. It is kind of like a Where's Waldo for little ones.

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!