WILD ABOUT THE ALPHABET!

This debut illustrated abecedarian book aims to make reading aloud fun for adults as well as children.

Among the plethora of ABC books on the market, many offerings make animals their focus, and some creatures show up time and time again. This is especially so for less frequently used letters; for example, Q is usually for "Quail," and Z is almost always for "Zebra." Though children love familiarity and the repetition of their favorites, the grown-ups who read to them may feel jaded by the same old, same old. To address this problem, author and illustrator Crowder speaks to both audiences in his book. Though he does sometimes use well-known examples, like “A is for Alligator,” he often provides some uncommon alternatives, as when readers are told that A also stands for “aardvark, airedale, and akita.” And when a usual suspect shows up—Q is indeed for "Quail"—the author makes the entry amusing, acknowledging that “there are only about six animals that begin with Q. This is one.” For each spread, the left-hand page displays its animal exemplar in the shape of the appropriate capital letter, as with the toucan, whose long, large beak makes the horizontal crosspiece of a T, its body forming the upright. Each right-hand page shows the letter again in regular typography, both uppercase and lowercase, which is a useful touch that not all ABC books include.

For each letter of the alphabet, Crowder supplies some intriguing animal observations peppered with emphatic exclamations. “S is for Salamander,” for example, features the comment that the creature “can regrow lost limbs, parts of its heart, and even parts of its brain…its brain!” It’s easy to imagine reading this aloud with gusto. Many entries include quirky, humorous asides with references that will go over the heads of most children but will be entertaining for adults. For example, readers are warned that the gecko isn’t “cuddly” and “can’t talk either, so don’t let those commercials fool you.” Similarly, under K (somewhat unsurprisingly, for "Kangaroo"), the author notes that “a group of kangaroos is called a mob. It’s not a flash mob. Calm down.” The images are attractively colored, shaded, and proportioned. It’s a plus that the animals aren’t anthropomorphized or cartoony but instead are depicted fairly realistically in ways that convey their particular characteristics. For example, the dolphin’s lines flow aquatically, the fennec fox tilts its head in curious inquiry, and the raccoon washes its hands. The final pages present illustrations for animals mentioned but not portrayed in the main text, such as C for "Coelacanth." A pronunciation guide is included, more useful for adults than for pre-readers, but no glossary. This could have come in handy for terms the book uses but doesn’t define, such as the differences between monkeys, apes, and lemurs—something adults could find challenging to explain to kids.

Wry wit, unusual choices, and pleasing images make this an enjoyable, all-ages ABC work.