Book post: ABC

Book cover from Penguin

Jay, A. (2003). ABC: A child's first alphabet book. New York, NY: Dutton Children's Books.

This beautifully illustrated alphabet books has many things going for it. The colors are calming and the pictures are detailed but simple. I love the "crackle" effect that each page has; after looking at a few more books illustrated by Alison Jay, I realized this is her style. It gives the pictures a somewhat antique look. Each page features the next letter in the alphabet, with the uppercase and lowercase, and a brief sentence such as "c is for cow." One fun thing I noticed is that even though the cow may be the main "c" on the page, it includes many more things that begin with that page's letter (chickens, car, cabbages, cat). This would be fun for children learning to read, because they could have a challenge to find all the words that begin with the letter on the page. Even more sneaky of Jay is that she puts the next letter's featured picture somewhere on the page (the d page's dog is on the c page). I didn't realize this until I was on page "o," but once I did, it was fun to go back and find them all!

Book post: Count!

Book cover from Macmillan

Fleming, D. (1992). Count! New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.

This counting book counts from one to ten, and then by tens up to fifty. It represents each number with that number of animals, the Arabic numeral, the number in rectangles or marks, and spelled out. Count! could be used for children just learning to count, recognize numbers, or read, and I think new readers would like the various ways the numbers are represented. The cover art shows the number one animal: one gnu. I like that the colors are all bright and the animals are designed simply.

Book post: I Read Signs

Book cover from HarperCollins

Hoban, T. (1983). I read signs. New York, NY: Greenwillow Books.

I Read Signs is a book of photographs, all of street signs. It contains many different types of signs. This book can help new readers start to identify words in their own communities. I think this could start a conversation about what types of signs are in our neighborhoods, and why they are important. Knowing the concept of what signs mean is practical knowledge that can keep kids safe. Even if the pictures now look a bit dated since the book is over 30 years old, I like that it includes photographs of actual signs because it will make it easier for children to identify them in real life.