ABC Books for Early Readers

An Edward Lear Alphabet
Ages: 4 - 8 yrs.
Author: Edward Lear, Illustrator: Vladimir Radunsky
Harpercollins, $14.99 (Hardcover)

Illustrator Vladimir Radunsky has given the inspired nonsense-verse of Edward Lear a modern look and feel through collage and his own illustrations. Early readers are sure to enjoy the Lear's alliterations in phrases such as "F was once a little fish, Fishy Wishy Squishy Fishy in a dishy Little fish."

Alphabet RiddlesAges: 5 - 7 yrs.
Author: Susan Royce, Illustrator: Doug DuBosque
Peel Productions, $13.95 (Hardcover)

This is a pure delight - an intelligent, engaging collection of 26 alphabet riddles for children who already know the letters of the alphabet per se. The listener (or beginning reader) is given the first and last letter of a familiar word and then provided with a quartet of felicitously rhymed clues. Adults as well as children will be inspired to join in the fun.

Pigs From A to Z
Ages: 5 - 7 yrs.
Author: Arthur Geisert
Houghton Mifflin Children's Books, $7.95 (Paperback)

On every page of this assemblage of very strange etchings, you'll find five forms of successive letters of the alphabet and seven rather peculiar pigs. Interspersed in a sort of fugal mode are the preceding and following letters as well. With intricate interweavings - of idea, text, and images - the simple abecedarian becomes a sort of porcine musical-mystical metaphor.

M Is For Music
Ages: 5 - 8 yrs.
Author: Kathleen Krull    Illustrator: Stacy Innerst
Harcourt Trade Publishers/Harcourt Children's Books, $16.00 (Hardcover)

Music and the alphabet have always gone together. Don't kids learn their letters by singing the ABCs? But you've never seen--or heard--a musical alphabet like this one. Beloved tunes. Unusual instruments. Legendary virtuosos. From anthems to zydeco, the language of music and the music of language harmonize in one superb symphony. It's a funky fusion for songsters of all ages!
Book Description

Ashanti to Zulu
Ages: 5 - 8 yrs.
Author: Margaret Musgrove, Illustrator: Leo and Diane Dillon
Dial Books for Young Readers, $5.99 (Paperback)

Artists Leo and Diane Dillon won their second consecutive Caldecott Medal for this stunning ABC of African culture. Twenty-six distinct African tribal customs are beautifully illustrated and introduced.

I Spy: An Alphabet in Art
Ages: 5 - 8 yrs.
Selected By: Lucy Micklethwait
Harper Collins/William Morrow, $9.95 (Paperback)

Twenty-six spendidly reproduced museum paintings fill the pages of this beautiful alphabet book. Children and adults alike will find themselves exploring these pages for objects beginning with the appropriate letter.