Alphabet Books

ABC3D

Marion Bataille

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Roaring Brook Press Amazon Marketplace: 19 new & used starting at $12.64

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Basic Concepts -> Alphabet

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 38 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

ABC3D Review 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Fantastic Pop-Up book! Probably the most creative and imaginative pop-up book I've ever experienced, with a wide variety of "pop-ups" and other mechanics. A real treat to own...and share with others.

Innovative fun for typomaniacs 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The video preview of the book is very convincing and so is the price. That's why I ordered 2 of the books, just in case. I was then a bit disappointed by the sometimes grubby manufacture. One of both covers had a stripe of sticky glue on one side and the overall handling is not as easy as in the video. But well, pop-up books involve a complicated technique, especially if you want to include exciting effects. This is not a book you "read" everyday, so I think it simply is a nice collectors piece for everyone interested in playful graphical objects. Just get one (or two), the price is hilarious and the idea gorgeous!

Editorial Review:

"Easily the most innovative alpabet book of the year, if not the decade... Beyond clever."—The Washington Post Prepare to be amazed. From the lenticular cover that changes with the angle of your hands all the way to the Z, ABC3D is as much a work of art as it is a pop-up book. Each of the 26 three-dimensional letters move and change before your eyes. C turns into D with a snap. M stands at attention. X becomes Y with a flick of the wrist. And then there's U...Boldly conceived and brilliantly executed with a striking black, red, and white palette, this is a book that readers and art lovers of all ages will treasure for years to come.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Bill Martin Jr., John Archambault

Amazon Price: $8.79 List Price: $10.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Little Simon Amazon Marketplace: 42 new & used starting at $4.40

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 185 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

All our family loves this book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book was another accidental find in our library, a present from our library-sale loving friend. I love reading this story to my daughter (22 months at the time of this review), and I enjoy its rhythm and its illustrations. The story is a little long for a toddler, Anna usually loses interests after the letters fall off the tree, but she enjoys saying out of the blue, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! ... Enough room? when she is playing with something else. Those little wheels in her head are obviosly turning :)

Editorial Review:

A told B,

and B told C,

"I'll meet you at the

top of the coconut tree"

Countless children -- and there parents -- can joyfully recite the familiar words of this beloved alphabet chant. The perfect pairing of Bill Martin Jr and John Archambault's lively rhymes, and Caldecott Honor artist Lois Ehlert's bright, bold, cheerful pictures made Chicka Chicka Boom Boom an instant hit and a perennial favorite.

This full-sized, quality paperback edition will bring even more fans to this endearing, enduring classic.

Chicka chicka boom boom

will there be enough room?

There will always be room for Chicka Chicka boom Boom on every child's bookshelf!

Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks from A to Z (A Chunky Book(R))

Richard Scarry

Amazon Price: $3.99 List Price: $3.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Random House Books for Young Readers Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $1.11

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( S ) -> Scarry, Richard

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great book for the car! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

After reading many reviews on here, I bought this book wondering what I'd get. It seems that most reviews here are either very strongly liking this book or very strongly not liking it (it's a kid's book for gosh sakes!)

Anyway, my son loves this book! It's the perfect size to hand him in the car or leaf through and talk about at a restaurant while waiting for food. The book is silly and fun- so please lighten up if you're not sure what a "corn car" is or whatever. Richard Scarry wasn't afraid to use his imagination, and was a lot of fun as a result.

It's an inexpensive book that takes a few minutes to flip through. Golden, in my eyes!

tiny truck book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

the perfect size for dropping in your purse for keeping a little boy entertained...my son loves the big richard scarry 'cars and trucks and things that go' which is too big to take along, so this is great for portability.

Editorial Review:

Illustrated in full color. This car-and- truck-filled alphabet extravaganza

that starts with an ambulance and ends with a zippercar, is shaped like Lowly

Worm's applemobile.

Dr. Seuss's ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book!

Dr. Seuss

Amazon Price: $4.99 List Price: $4.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Random House Books for Young Readers Amazon Marketplace: 185 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 81 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

My son loves it! 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

My 10 month old son loves having this read to him. He really responds to the colours and seems to enjoy the language. Its fun to read and it gets memorised very quickly. The board printing makes it very durable as Harry loves to turn the pages.

Not one of my favorites, but baby likes it 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I have to say, I don't enjoy reading this book. I see in the reviews that there is a longer version, and I think I might like that more. This one just gets on my nerves. My son seems to really enjoy it, though.

Make the book a little larger and include the original text! 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Should contain a warning that the original text has been edited--randomly and poorly.

I'd been reading this to my 7-mo old but needed a board book as my baby is now trying to rip real pages. I'd seen a board book version but did not expect this version to have totally different words. Some rhymes are complete--and some are not. And whoever did the editing has no ear for rhyme or rhythm. The whole point of the book is the rhyme and rhythm!

If the publishers had made the book a few pages longer and a few inches wider they could have fit in all of the text.

I wish I'd read and heeded the one-star reviews but I was in too much of a hurry.

Editorial Review:

With Dr. Seuss as your guide, learning the alphabet is as easy as A, B, C.  

Charley Harper ABCs (Chunky Version)

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: AMMO Books Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $5.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Delightful board book 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This book is a great sampling of Charley Harper's work and a great ABC board book for kids.

There is something interesting or cute in nearly every picture. Harper's unmistakable style makes the alphabet enjoyable.

Beautiful for children and adults! 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

This book is BEAUTIFUL! What a fantastic way to learn the alphabet and be inspired at the same time. Harper's artwork is gorgeous, inspired and whimsical.

A wonderful sampling of Charley Harper's work 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Charley Harper called his style "minimal realism", an attempt to capture the essence of his subjects with the least elements:

"When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don't see the feathers in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures. I regard the picture as an ecosystem in which all the elements are interrelated, interdependent, perfectly balanced, without trimming or unutilized parts; and herein lies the lure of painting; in a world of chaos, the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe."

This lovely little collection of ABCs is a great sampling for kids and for adults -- both are sure to enjoy the life Harper can bring to the page with such sophisticated simplicity.

At a much higher price point, Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life is an exhaustive review of his life and his work. Todd Oldham put that book together, and has put an summary of Harper's work, a short interview and a view of Harper's studio on YouTube: search "TODD OLDHAM'S HANDMADE MODERN - CHARLEY HARPER ESSAY" on YouTube. At a lower price point, Art Of Charley Harper 2009 Wall Calendar is nonetheless a lovely, representative collection.

There are a couple of other links in the first Comment to this review, including an interesting interview courtesy the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This quote, from Beguiled by the Wild: The Art of Charley Harper, is a good example of his love of word play:

"Crows are black birds and blackbirds are also, but a crow in the snow is so much the more so. If you're pro-crow you proclaim his intellect, his resourcefulness, and the visual poetry of his somber silhouette on the calligraphy of the cornfield. But if it's your cornfield, you have good caws to compose creative crowfanities when he arrives. Think of it as sharecropping: he gets the grasshoppers, you get the corn, and the few ears missed in the harvest are held in, well--escrow."

Harper's work is about as far from the realism of John James Audubon as it is possible to imagine, but both artists capture reality in their very different ways.

Robert C. Ross 2008

Editorial Review:

The incredible illustrations from modern artist Charley Harper come to vivid life in this beautiful alphabet board book. Full color.

How to Build an A

Sara Midda

Amazon Price: $12.21 List Price: $17.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Artisan Amazon Marketplace: 37 new & used starting at $10.15

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Editorial Review:

Don't just learn your letters—build them!

It's a book, it's a puzzle—and best of all, it's a way to learn the ABCs. Sara Midda's delightful How to Build an A comes with 11 fully safety-tested EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) pieces that can be pushed together to build all the letters of the alphabet, uppercase and lowercase. In the accompanying book, Midda, the British artist known for her charming watercolors, shows children the way. Each page introduces a new letter—A is for Apple, B is for Boy—and is illustrated with Midda's tiny people, who are shown comically hauling and heaving the pieces into place. Children will love the hands-on fun of bringing the letters of the alphabet to life. And parents will appreciate the mesh bag that comes with the kit, so all the parts stay together and can be used over and over again. For preschool and up.

I Stink!

Kate Mcmullan

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HarperTrophy Amazon Marketplace: 56 new & used starting at $2.63

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 66 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Love this book - garbage truck with ATTITUDE 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The book starts out with a dedication to the NYC sanitation department. How often does that happen?

The whole length of the book is a garbage truck describing his day (our night, of course). Hence the line "Did I wake you? Well, TOO BAD." (I love that line. It's so true to life! Our garbage trucks always wake us here.)

This truck roars, burps, and is proud of his recipe for Alphabet Soup (including such delicacies as Dirty Diapers and Puppy Poo, not to mention Zipped up Ziti with Zucchini). And I love the pride with which our narrator declares that he stinks - but he's got an important job. Without him, as he ways, we're on "Mount Trash-o-rama, baby".

I can't say enough good things about this book. Definitely check it out.

Editorial Review:

Know what I do at night while you're asleep?

Eat your trash, that's what!

With ten wide tires, one really big appetite, and an even bigger smell, this truck's got it all. His job? Eating your garbage and loving every stinky second of it!

And you thought nighttime was just for sleeping.

A Is for Art: An Abstract Alphabet

Stephen T. Johnson

Amazon Price: $11.55 List Price: $16.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $9.05

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Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Artists, A-Z -> General
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

This is NOT your preschoolers' alphabet book... 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book is for artists and people who truly appreciate abstract art. Unless you spend a bit of time really understanding what went into the creation of each eye-catching page, you'll be through with it in a jiff and onto the next book without a backwards glance.

My son was not intrigued in the least and I couldn't blame him. But going back and recognizing the scope of work that went into the representation of each letter...well, THEN it became remarkable. Seeing the 'R'(titled "Recycled")represented by a collage of Rubber bands on epoxy Resin, for instance, or the 'D' ("Dotty Diptych") illustrated by an amazing compilation of dominoes on wooden panels (80x70 inches!), is pretty impressive when you think about it. I think people who understand, first hand, how such artistic concepts are fleshed out will really enjoy this book - whether they have a child or not. They may want to use it as a coffee table book, in fact. However, I don't think the casual picture book browser will enjoy it as much.

Editorial Review:

A is for Art: An Abstract Alphabet is a remarkable journey of discovery about art and language through painting, collage, and sculpture by Caldecott Honor artist Stephen T. Johnson. With literal renderings of each letter, complete with witty titles and playful, alliterative captions, Johnson's abstract art forges connections between words, objects, and ideas.

Can you find the hidden letters? Look closely and you will see a letter C made of colorful candy, a letter H hidden in a hook, and an S in a soft shadow. From A to Z, each stunning, original work of art will stimulate the imagination and creativity of children and adults alike.

Nutshell Library (Caldecott Collection)

Amazon Price: $13.29 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HarperCollins Amazon Marketplace: 53 new & used starting at $9.46

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( S ) -> Sendak, Maurice -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 58 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A little bit of joy in a little set of books 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

These were a set I remember from when I was young - and they are still great. Wonderful illustrations from the creative (where the wild things are) Sendak, easy to read, great rhymes and even educational. Quirky sense of humour and my daughter loves the size so they encourag her to take the books and read them herself. In short, 4 endearing, quality works well worth keeping in the family library forever!

Keepsake quality 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I always get this small collection of books by Sendak when I get a baby gift. My youngest daughter got this set long ago from her godparents and they are worn and much loved, by her parents as well as my daughter, and are now in use by her children. They are catchy, memorable rhyming stories that stay with you forever and just make you happy. The small size fits so neatly and comfortably into little hands. They become "companions" the way good books are meant to do. I highly recommend this "Nutshell Library" to everyone. Adults should have their own set!

Editorial Review:

This 4-volume boxed set contains an alphabet book, a book of rhymes about each month, a counting book, and a cautionary tale all written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Includes the titles Alligators All Around, Chicken Soup with Rice, One Was Johnny, and Pierre.(Titles available separately in library and paperback editions.)

Alphabet Flash Cards (Brighter Child Flash Cards)

School Specialty Publishing

Amazon Price: $2.99 List Price: $2.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Brighter Child Amazon Marketplace: 18 new & used starting at $1.23

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Brighter Child Alphabet Flash Cards offer children a fun and easy way to practice their alphabet skills. Featuring 54 cards that help reinforce phonics, uppercase and lowercase letter recognition, and reading readiness skills. Full-color, charming illustrations help to engage children. A special card also offers creative game ideas designed to reinforce learning.

The popular Brighter Child® Flash Cards give children a fun and easy way to practice important skills. Offering 24 titles encompassing preschool to grade 5, each title focuses on an important subject including early concepts, math, phonics, and U.S. History. Fun game ideas and learning suggestions are included to help children build proficiency and confidence. Game cards also allow children to develop thinking, decision-making, turn-taking, and social skills while playing fun games at the same time.

Selected titles are also available in English-Spanish and Spanish only versions.