Alphabet Bird Collection - Shelli Ogilvy

Illustrated by the author
Sasquatch Books, Seattle; 2009
$16..95
ages 3 up
56 pages
Endpapers:  Dark, deep slate blue
Book design:  Beautifully laid out.  Double page spreads.  No white.  Each spread is a different background color:  mustard, burgundy, blue, black, plum, peach clay.... Square pages.  Bordered illustration on one, couplet, short explanation, and "how the bird's song sounds" on the other.  I admit, though, the song part didn't sound like bird songs to me -- my singing and pronunciation must be off.

Magpie:
Mischievous and strikingly loud,
A group of Magpies make a noisy crowd

Quetzal:
In a Guatemala forest's early morning light,
Spy a Quetzal, colorful and bright.

Extension idea:  Create pages for our study of local birds when studying Arizona

Compost Stew - Mary McKenna Siddals

an A to Z Recipe for the Earth
Illustrated by Ashley Wolff
Triangle Press, Berkeley, 2010
32 pgs
$15.99
Rating:  4
Endpapers:  Collaged, dark brown earth, other brown pieces, hand cut worms
Illustrations are cut paper with drawing added (the faces - all kids - are really nice. A + !!
http://www.ashleywolff.com/

A "rhyming recipe" on what to add into a stew of goodies to make rich compost

"Environmental chefs,
here's a recipe for you
to fix from scratch
to mix a batch
of Compost Stew."

From A (apple cores) to Z (zinnia heads) it's an unforced alphabet of all sorts of things you can put into compost.

AUTHOR'S NOTE at the beginning and CHEF'S NOTE at the end are full of info - and some is very cleverly funny.

Sleepy ABC - Margaret Wise Brown

Illustrated by Karen Katz
Harper, 2010
$16.99
"Ages 4-8"
Rating: 2
Endpapers: Bright orange

Here's a sleepy nighttime book that is vibrantly colored and wide awake - it doesn't really seem very sleepy to me. I adore Karen Katz's paintings, but his one doesn't seem to match the worrds. And Brown's words - written and copyrighted in 1953, seem so old-fashioned. Well....I guess they are....strike me down, now, lightning bolt!

Unfortunately, this book just doesn't work for me, as much as I'd love it to.

A is for Asia - Cynthia Chin-Lee

Illustrated by Umi Heo
Orchard Books, 1997
Rating: 3
Endpapers: Goldish paper bag color

Asia seems too diverse to include enough about it in one picture book, but Ms. Lee tries. She includes as many of the countries as she can by introducing a product, activity, animal, holiday, or activity from that country. There is a noticeable absence of some countries, however. It also gets confusing if you're looking for specific information about a particular Asian country, or if you're trying to figure out any of the different languages which are included on every page - or even where a country is located. But it is also an excellent introduction to teaching about the seven continents of the world - and zillions of lessons can be included for each letter.

I like the illustrations a lot. They cover much of the page within a single-line outline, are colorful, fun, and informative.

Asia (map) (Language: Tibetan)
Batik-Indonesia
Camels-Saudi Arabia (Language: Arabic)
Dragonboats-China
Elephants-India (Language: Hindi)
Fish (symbol) (Language: Vietnamese)
Gamelan-Malaysia & Indonesia
Holi (a holiday)-India
Id al-Noruz (Persia-no explanation) (Language: Persian)
Jade (Language: Burmese)
Kites (Language: Korean)
Lotus (Language: Hindi)
Monsoon (Language: Urdu, with no explanation of who speaks this)
New Year-China
Origami-Japan
Panda-China
Qur'an-Muslim (Language: Arabic)
Rice (Language: Chinese)
Sled-Siberia (Language: Russian)
Turkish Delight
Umbrella-China
Villages-Korea
Water Buffalo-Philippines (Language: Tagalong)
Xiang Qi (Chinese Chess)
Yurt-Mongolia
Zen (Language: Japanese)

Amelia to Zora - Cynthia Chin-Lee

Twenty-six Women Who Changed the World
Illustrateda by Megan Haley & Sean Addy
Charlesbridge, 2005
$15.95
Rating: 4
for: middle grades
920.72C PCPL
Endpapers: dusty purple

The illustrations for each page are done in mixed-media collage, with an actual photograph for the face. Also included on the page is a short biography and quote. This would make a great model for a class ABC book.

Women included are:

Amelia Earhart (flight, adventurer)
Babe Didrikson (golf)
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin (astronomer, 1st female professor at Harvard)
Dolores Huerta (United Farm Workers co-founder)
Eleanor Roosevelt
Frida Kahlo
Grace Hopper (computer pioneer)
Helen Keller
Imogen Cunningham (photographer)
Jane Goodall (naturalist/chimps)
Kristi Yamaguchi (gold-medal figure skater)
Lena Horne (singer, activist)
Maya Line (architect/Vietnam War Memorial)
Nawal El Sadaawi (women's right's activist)
Oprah Winfrey
Patricia Shroeder (politician)
Quah Ah (Pueblo painter)
Rachel Carson (environmentalist)
Suu Kyi (soo CHEE)(activist/Burma/Myanmar)
Teresa (Mother Teresa) (missionary)
Ursula K. LeGuin (SciFi writer)
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (India/UN peace pioneer)
Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee politician)
Xiefen (she EH fun) (China/women's rights)
Yoshiko Uchido (author)
Zora Neal Hurston (Black author)

Ox, House, Stick - Don Robb

The History of Our Alphabet
Illustrated by Anne Smith
8-11?
9-12?
Both are cited, I'd definitely move for the upper end
2007
Rating: 3.5
$16.95
Endpapers: Large dark pink calligraphy alphabet letters

A to Zed. Here is a very interesting history of how our current alphabet came to be, going all they way back to its Sinaitic roots, through Phoenician, Early Greek, Classical Greek, and then our current ROMAN rendering. It includes history, background, and interesting information about writing, paper, utensils, and where it all started or came from. For example,

"The origin of the letter E is uncertain. The Sinaitic symbol for the word HE looks a bit like a person with upstretched arms, and perhaps it indicated someone praying. Or it may instead have meant "high." Most scholars today believe that the drawing simply represented a person expressing surprise. The Phoenician symbol for HE looks entirely different, and some believe it meant "window." Whatever its meaning, it was a consonant in both Sinaitic and Phoencian. Borrowed by the Greeks, this letter became a vowel called epsilon. In Greek, psilon means "plain" or "simple." So epsilon -- (h)e-psilon -- was their plain, or short e vowel. They used a different letter for their long e sound."

The illustrations and added information are interesting. An although I read it completely from beginning to end, I had to put it down and pick it up to keep my attention alive. Or perhaps I'm just tired and needed to "nap" (I am taking care of two very energetic kids who are wearing me out) I'm not certain how much a kid would, especially one who has no added interest in the history of the alphabet. However, for kids with a big interest in history or ancient civilizations, this would be a great choice. I've got one or two in my fifth and sixth grade classes that would enjoy this a lot.

Kid's resource cited;
How Our Alphabet Grew: The History of the Alphabet (Dugan)
Alphabet Art: Thirteen ABC's from Around the World (Fisher)
The 26 Letters (Ogg)
The Little Greek Alphabet Book (Rees)
Alphabetical Order: How the Alphabet Began (Samoyault)

There are a few websites listed, too.

Fancy Nancy's Favorite Fancy Words - Jane O'Connor

Illustrator: Robin Preiss Glasser
2008
Rating: 4
$12.99
endpapers; brigth, dark pink

A smaller version of the Fancy Nancy series, (perhaps 7 in. by 9 in.), this shows how you can use snazzy words instead of ordinary words - right up my alley

Fiasco - a big flop, a disaster. I dropped all the parfaits. What a fiasco!
Improvise - to use whatever is handy in order to make something. I wanted a canopy bed, so I had to improvise. I used a sheet, a mop, and a broom!
Yearn - to want really badly. I yearn to visit Paris some day.

Illustrations are detailed and fancy, flowery and very, very girly, quite adorable. The theme towards all things French and the way to look at snazzing up your words is excellent...and quite fun. This would be a great lead-in to creating a class book of snazzy words. CACOPHONY! EGREGIOUS! DILAPIDATED! Let's get started!

Just in Case - Yuyi Morales

A Trickster Tale and Spanish Alphabet Book
2008
Rating: 4
$17.95
Endpapers: Turquoise with 9 white-rimmed alphabet cards.

What a great name - Yuyi. I wonder how you pronounce it.

Senor Calavera gets ready to go to Grandma Beetle's birthday party, then hops on his bike to get him there. On the way he meets up with Zelmiro the ghost, who reminds him that he has no gift. So he begins to accumulate gifts - alphabetically. Gifts in Spanish, great spanish words. "Dientes. Teeth for a good bite. Una Escalera. A ladder to reach p st the sky. Una Flauta. A flute he made from a branch. Granizado. A snow cone flavored with syrup." Page by page he picks up more gifts - gorgeously illustrated and colorful pages - until he gets to Grandmap Beetle's party. And we find out the Zelmire the ghost is none other than (da da!) Grandpa Zelmiro! The date on the wall is 7 Novembre. A beautifully illustrated Day of the Dead tie-in - and an alphabet book to boot!

Read Anything Good Lately? - Susan Allen & Jane Lindaman

Illustrator: Vicky Enright
Published: 2003
Rating: 3.5
Endpapers: Christmas Green

Simple sentence fragments in comic sans font with cute, detailed illustrations show many of the places and types of literature (well, at least 26) that you can read. For example:

Information on the internet
Joke books in the jacuzzi
The back of the Kellogg's box in kitchen,
Literature at the library

There's a thought bubble/oval for each page that show bits of the text that people in that illustrations are reading.

Q=quotations in the quiet (girl reading a book hight in the green branches of a tree with the quote she's reading in the thought bubble: "The pen is mightier than the sword.")

X=xrays in the eXamination room (doctor and girls and dog with bandage on his tail are looking at the tail xray)

Z=Zodiac at the zoo (animls are bending over people sitting on a bench as they all peruse a newspaper. (Thought bubble: PISCES, Feb 19-Mar 20 YOU WILL ALWAYS LOVE READING)

The Dangerous Alphabet - Neil Gaiman

Illustrator: Gris Grimly
For: ages 5 and up?
Published: Apriil, 2008
Rating: 2 (but I may change it if another reading helps me understand it....)
Read: Last month
Endpapers: Pale pumpkin

I read this twice. I wanted to love it. I feel stupid - I must admit I didn't get it. Gotta read some of the reviews for it one of these days.

The intro itself is intriguing: "A piratical ghost story in thirteen ingenious but potentially disturbing rhyming couplets, originally conceived as a confection both to amuse and to entertain by Mr. Neil Gaiman, scrivener, and then doodled, elaborated upon, illustrated, and beaten soundly by Mr. Gris Grimly, etcher and illuminator, featuring two brave children, their diminutive but no less courageous gazelle, and a large number of extremely dangerous trolls, monsters, bugbears, creatures, and other such nastiness, many of which have perfectly disgusting eating habits and ought not, under any circumstances, to be encouraged. Please Note: The alphabet, as given in this publication, is not to be relied upon and has a dangerous flaw that an eagle-eyed reader may be able to discern."

Intriguing? Yes! ! ! But . . . . . .

Illustrations are pen and ink colored with browns, greys, dusty yellows, with a touch of the endpaper color. The font looks like handwriting that might be used for adding scariness.

Calavera Abecedario - Jeanette Winter

A Day of the Dead Alphabet Book
For: The multitudes that know little about El di de los muertos
Published: 2004
Rating: 4.5
Read: Every October since 2004
Endpapers: B & W calaveras holding candles
A festive celebration!

I've chosen just one of my Day of the Dead books to mention this morning. I have a couple by Jeanette Winter-her art, her illustrations, the way she depicts this happy Mexican celebration, evoke really good feelings for me. Lots of blacks and fiesta colors. Black-backed illustrations framed to the edge of the page with yellows, pinks, purples, aquas, greens.....

The first nine pages tell of a family in Mexico City that have made calaveras (paper mache skeletons) for generations. Then the alphabet begins. Angels, witches, doctors, farmers, musicians, bride and groom, shoemaker, unicorn, chemist, queen.... all are depicted as calaveras using the SPANISH name. The translation for each is in the back as well as a bit of information about the day

M is for Mischief - Linda Ashman

POETRY
An A to Z of Naughty Children
Illustrator: Nancy Carpenter
For: Kids, not too too young, though
Published: 2008
Rating: FIVE
Read: Oct. 21, 2008
Endpapers: Purple

This is going to be a favorite. An ABC book with alliteration, sophisticated vocabulary, poetry, and illustrations that have a little extra something, a different technique, very subtle and very fun. Nancy Carpenter uses what appears to be photographs of real items as part of her drawaings. Now maybe I'm wrong, but check out the pink cowboy boots from Evesdropping Eva, the orange frisbee from Fiendish Frankie, the shrubbery in Hiding Hal, the first place ribbons and trophies from Blustering Buster. A close examination of each page is in order!

Six to twelve-lined poems using alliteration and incredibly good vocabulary tell the stories of 26 very naughty children. Cleverly. Very cleverly. The poems stand alone, but the illustrations are a blast. I just want to read, and examine, and share, share, share. The middle schoolers loved it. The humor, the rhythm, the rhyming, the wording. They wanted to read it aloud to each other.

I always look forward to the letter X. This can be very telling about the cleverness and ingenuity of a writer. Check out Linda Ashman's X:

Experimenting Xavier

Xavier gets excited mixing extracts in the sink.
Mama takes exception, says, "You'll make us all extinct!"
Explains to him explicitly, "You lack the expertise
To execute experiments as difficult a these."

Xavier exclaims to her, "It's just a simple potion!"
But Mama cannot hear him on account of the...
EXPLOSION!

and I love Eavesdropping Eva (and NOT because it's primarily purple and lime green pages):

Eva enjoys hearing every exchange.
She creeps up to eavesdrop at very close range,
While people are eating, or out on a date,
At public events, or a private estate.
A whisper, an echo, and Eva appears,
Eagerly listening, straining her ears.
She'll sneak under tables, or lean from a ledge -
Uh-oh! Now Eva's gone over the edge.

Definitely, one of my favorites of the year.

Twenty-six Princesses - Dave Horowitz

For: Kids...and not just girls...
Published: 2008
Rating: 4/5
Read: October, 2008
Endpapers: Two shades of lavender, cut paper doll princess silhouettes holding hands, each with a letter of the alphabet across their body
Cute couplets.

Princess Alice. First to the palace. (Lots of frowing frogs at the door.)
Princess Betty. Still getting ready. (A frog is her servant.)
Princess Criss. Stealing a kiss. (Abominable spelling! Oh well. Frowning frog is pushing her away as her lips approach.)
Princess Dot. A lady she's not.
Princess Elle. Starting to yell.
Princess Flo. Waiting to go. (Frog repairman is trying to fix wheel as Flo frowningly watches.)
Princess Grace. Making a face.
.....and so on.
(Princess Nell. What's that smell? She's "toot"ed.)
Princess Zaire. Finally there.
Put 'em all together and what do you get?
A ROYAL PAIN IN THE ALPHABET!

The last two-page spread is everyone at the party - it's fun trying to pick out who's who. And all the guys are frogs.

No white space. large pages, illustration is in a center rectangle, outlined in a thin white line, the framed with a complimentary color to the edge of the page. The pictures aren't really exciting;, but they're fun.

Ellsworth's Extraordinary Electric Ears - Valorie Fisher

For: Kids
Pub: 2003
Rating: 4/5
Read: Aug. 25, 2008

Abundant alliteration.
Clever dioramas.
Multi-media.

I love alphabet books, and I love figurative language. I love collage and I adore cleverness. This books contains all. Each letter of the alphabet has a snazzy sentence and an accompanying diorama that not only illustrates the sentence but includes many other words beginning with that letter.

I want to share this book with my middle-schoolers and have them create sentences that they then illustrate with collage or diorama! We'll photograph them and put the page in our memory books.

A few examples:
"Fancy feathered fashions were favored by Floyd's farm friends. (You can imagine THIS diorama!)
"Kyle's kids kept kites in the kitchen.
"Quentin quickly quieted the quibbling, quarreling, and quacking of the quintuplets.
"Trust Trevor to tell you, typing on a trapeze was terribly tricky."

Loved it!