Z GOES FIRST

With so many alphabet books bouncing around, it’s no wonder that letter Z is tired of being in last place. For a change, she wants to go first.

Being at the end is sooo boring, so Z and Y together decide to challenge the other letters for position—but they run into a number of letters blocking their way. E stretches into a fence. D blocks their path with his big belly (from eating too many doughnuts). F and G let them pass with a warning that H might be grumpy. LMNOP stick together like a brick wall. While the storyline plays itself out with understated humor, the bright, mixed-media illustrations shape each letter like a Saturday-morning–cartoon character, with googly eyes and (mostly) smiling faces. Each one has a personality trait, with vivid colors adding to the comic effect, and some letters seem to contain related references in their design. For example, M looks rather like a dog, which may prompt caregivers to introduce the vocabulary word “mutt,” but this is not consistent—why does the J have a head that looks like a duck?

Will Z and Y make it to the beginning of the alphabet? Kids will no doubt find their quest a hoot and giggle.