The Icky Bug Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta Illustrated by Ralph Masiello

I thought this book was okay. My daughter liked looking at the pictures of all the different “bugs”, which included spiders and insects. I liked that it had a little bit of information for each bug. My biggest complaint is that at the end of the book he says that “The Orb Spider, Water Spider and Tarantula are spiders. The Velvet Mite and the Scorpian are arachnids.” Spiders are arachnids too so I thought that was confusing. But that’s just me. So it could be a good book to begin a study of “bugs”, which I always thought of as insects. I am over analyzing too much?

The Disappearing Alphabet by richard wilbur Illustrated by david diaz

I think I got this book at a Scholastic Warehouse sale for a buck. It wasn’t worth it. The book idea is cute as they go through the alphabet asking the reader to pretend what life would be like without that letter. However, the rhymes seem forced at times and just odd. I did like the illustrations, colorful and fun. The book has great potential that didn’t materialize.

Miss Spider’s ABC Written and Illustrated by David Kirk

This book was recommended by Bookie Woogie when I first posted a list of ABC books who said “the most vivid colors I’ve ever seen in a picturebook.” He was right. I cannot say enough about the pictures. They are vivid, vibrant and so full of color it’s easy to spend several minutes on each page admiring the art work. My 4-year old loved the book. The verse is fun creative and very buggy and compliments the illustrations very well. I would definitely buy this book.

Alphabet by Mathew Van Fleet Edited and Art Directed by Skip Skwarek

This is a very thick, pop-up book with lots of different textures to use. This is a good book to use with young children as it is very tactile – little ones love to lift flaps and touch things. Like the Velvety tall Giraffes are really – velvety. Great way to introduce reading to a young child.

G is for One Gzonk! by TINY DiTERLOONEY (aka Tony DiTerlizzi)

This book claims to NOT teach you the alphabet and is written for children ages 4-7. It also includes number counting as well. Each letter is represented by an fictional monster created by TINY. My daughter loved the book. She thought it was fun and that the monsters where funny. It reminded my of Dr. Suess only for older kids.

Picture a letter by Brad Sneed

This is a wordless alphabet book for kids ages 4-7. In other words each page has pictures of things that start with that letter. For letter the letter A there is an acrobat. Loved the pictures which he did on watercolor paper with mixed medium. It took a while to go through the book and we have since read it at least 3 times. My daughter loves looking for pictures that started with the corresponding letter and each time we found more pictures that started with the corresponding letter. There is a key at the end of the book of all the different items, which helped because sometimes I didn’t know the name of a paricularly animal or illustration. Two mice accompany you on the journey – one to set up the letter and the other to watch. This is a fantastic book, great illustrations and a great way to teach beginning sounds.

Akira to Zoltán: Twenty-Six Men Who Changed the World by Cynthia Chin-Lee Illustrated by Megan Halsey and Sean Addy

I saw this one when I checked out the author’s website and thought it looked like a great companion to Amelia to Zora which I did a review for last month. I loved this book. It talked about so many different men from athletes to artists to scientists to peace activists and more and their contributions to the world from all backgrounds. Loved it, loved it, loved it! Same format as the other book as it uses the gentlemen’s first names and includes a quote from each man. The pictures are all done with a mixed medium in a collage style. One of my favorites is B for Badshah who lead the larges nonviolent protest group ever of 100,000 in what is now part of Pakistan. This would be a good one for 3rd grade on up.