The Alphabet's Alphabet

PreS-Gr 1—The letters of the alphabet have more in common than meets the eye; in fact, they may be a family. An "A is an H that just won't stand up right, a B is a D with its belt on too tight, and a Z is an L in a tug-of-war fight." Harris (I'm Just No Good at Rhyming) offers an ingenious and humorous look at the alphabet in a hand-lettered text, where speech bubbles accompany the chatty letters. Children will engage with the rhyming text and have fun deciphering the images. With over-the-top creativity, Santat's illustrations use a soft colored palette of secondary colors. VERDICT For use in preschools or alphabet-themed story times, this funny and creative ABC book will delight children and adults alike.—Kathia Ibacache, Univ. of Colorado Boulder

This alphabet comedy by Harris (I'm Just No Good at Rhyming) uncovers unexpected family resemblances between letters of the Latin alphabet: "For all of the letters--from A on through Z--/ Can look like each other in some way, to me." "A G is a Q that has started to yawn/ An H is a U with a pair of stilts on." In spreads with warm, dramatic lighting; sunny colors; and plenty of word balloon chatter, Santat (Lift) portrays the letters as physical bodies, bent and straight, portly and thin, and supplies domestic particulars: G's bedroom has a heavy metal band poster on the wall ("AB/CD") and a stuffed lower-case r to cuddle. The collaboration produces an amusing, imaginative excursion, and it prods readers--especially those new to reading and writing--to visualize similarities between the symbols. Harris's versifying nails rhyme and meter, and Santat's endless stream of energy (J slumps, sunburned in a deck chair, to become a U, having lost its sunglasses and knocked over its drink) delivers one over-the-top gag after another. Ages 4-8. Author's agent: Richard Abate, 3 Arts Entertainment. Illustrator's agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House. (Sept.)