ABC Books
The following ABC books were chosen in an effort to highlight the wide range of books in a seemingly simple category. ABC books can be fun, engaging, and certainly not boring!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault
Illustrated by Lois Ehlert
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Beach Lane Books, New York (2000)
- ISBN-13: 978-0689835681
- Target audience: 4-8 years old
The letters of the alphabet race up the coconut tree. Will there be enough room?
Narrative plot
Lower case letters all sneak out and climb the coconut tree, with disastrous results! The upper case "parent" letters come to the rescue. Only to have the cheeky lower case letters dare challenge each other to another race up the coconut tree.
Relationship between text and visual pictures
Bright colors, bold lines, and simple shapes all work to illustrate the story. The upper case "parent" letters helping, hugging, holding their lower case "children" letters work well to connect the pairs together.
Storytelling and appeal
Repetition, rhyming, and lyrical use of sounds and made up words all combine to make this a fun and relatable tale of childish antics. While, at the same time, encouraging young children to repeat the alphabet and connect lower case and upper case letters together.
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Dr. Seuss's ABC
by Dr. Seuss
- Hardcover: 63 pages
- Publisher: Random House / Beginner Books, (1991)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0394800303
- ISBN-13: 978-0394800301
- Target audience: 3-7 years old
A silly, Dr. Seuss way to learn the ABC's.
Narrative plot
It's 63 pages of Dr. Seuss making his way through the alphabet with repeating letters and silly rhymes.
Relationship between text and visual pictures
The ability of Dr. Seuss to match his art to his text is unsurpassed. His non-sensical art with bold colors and line delightfully illustrates the equally non-sensical and silly alphabet repeating and rhyming.
Storytelling and appeal
For young children just learning their alphabet, as well as the different letter sounds, this book maintains an alluring appeal. Even young readers will continue to enjoy the Seussical images, silly rhymes and names.
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The Dangerous Alphabet
by Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by Gris Grimly
- Hardcover: 32 pages
- Publisher: Harper Collins, New York (2008)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0060783338
- ISBN-13: 978-0060783341
- Target audience: 4-8 years old
A pirate ghost story told loosely within the confines of the alphabet
Narrative plot
Two children head off a pirate ghost story through the underground sewers with their pet gazelle, meeting trolls, monsters, creatures, and other "nastinesses." The narrative is propelled by the use of the alphabet and lyrical rhymes.
Relationship between text and visual pictures
The deeper into picture books I go, it becomes clearer that the author and illustrator do not always know each other. This book, however, the relationship between the two is apparent. The style of the story and the art work fantastically together, even though there are moments when they're competing for the reader's attention. The text, at times, fading to the background allows for imaginative story interpretation of the action in the pictures.
Storytelling and appeal
As an alphabet book, it loses teaching ability due to playing fast and loose with sounds and ideas. However, as a picture book and story, it is delightful for the age group and invites imaginative story telling.
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Sidewalk Flowers
by JonArno Lawson
Illustrated by Sydney Smith
- Hardcover: 32 pages
- Publisher: Groundwood Books, Canada (2015)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1554984319
- ISBN-13: 978-1554984312
- Target audience: 4-7 years
A little girl collects flowers on her walk home, gifting them along the way.
Narrative plot
Sidewalk Flowers is a story of a girl walking home with her dad, and along the way she notices and picks flowers. She also notices people and creatures and gifts them with the flowers she picks. The final recipient is herself.
Relationship between text and visual pictures
Without any words, the story is dependent on the artwork. The illustrations are created with minimum color, the city drawn in black and shades of gray, which allows the little girl to be highly visible in her bright red coat. Reminiscent of the art in
Snowy Day and
Wolf in the Snow. Each of the flowers she finds are also in bright color, more vivid with the stark black and white background. Recipients of her flowers also receive color treatment that works to illustrate their transformation. The illustrations themselves go back and forth between wide and narrow focus and propel the story along the girl's journey home. The final spreads are revealed in full color as they leave the city and walk down through their own quiet neighborhood.
Storytelling and appeal
The great appeal of the wordless picture books is the chance for the reader to make up their own stories along the way. There's quite a bit going on in the pictures, prompting a young child's imagination to take off with their own story.
Awards
Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Illustrated Books
Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award
Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award
Booksource Scout Award, Favorite Picture Book
National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award for Book Illustration
New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of the Year
School Library Journal Best Picture Book of the Year
Cybils Award winner, Fiction Picture Book
Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Book of the Year, 2016
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- Hardcover: 40 pages
- Publisher: Two Lions, (2010)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0761455264
- ISBN-13: 978-0761455264
- Target audience: 3-7 years old
Three children discover a magical bag of chalk.
Narrative plot
Three young friends, out for a walk in the park in the rain, come across a dinosaur spring rider with a gift bag in its teeth. The bag contains sidewalk chalk, which the children soon discover, is magical. The chalk sun becomes real sunlight, and the drawn butterflies come to life--as does the green dinosaur. Quick thinking has one child drawing rain clouds which wash away the dinosaur. The children replace the bag of chalk and go on with their rainy day walk.
Relationship between text and visual pictures
This picture book is presented completely without text. The art tells the entire story. The use of changing perspective and small close ups added in work amazing well to show expression. The expressions are in the exaggerated fashion of the silent movies and vividly portray curiosity, wonder, precociousness, shock, fright, and relief. The ending picture of the three children walking away, with one looking back at the spring rider and bag of chalk cleverly concludes the story while also opening up the ending for interpretation.
Storytelling and appeal
Without words to get in the way of a child's imagination, the pictures telling the story are a tremendous prompt for their own story telling. If you found a bag of magical chalk, what would you draw? How would you react if your drawing of a dinosaur came to life? There are so many possibilities for this story!
Awards
Young Hoosier Picture Books 2012-2013
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Picture book originally not published in the United States
Hot Hippo
by Mwenye Hadithi
Illustrated by Adrienne Kennaway
- Paperback: 32 pages
- Publisher: Hachette Children's, Hong Kong (1986)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 9780340413913
- ISBN-13: 978-0340413913
- Target audience: 5 - 8 years old
African folktale of how Hippo came to live in the river instead of on dry land.
Narrative plot
Hippo is too hot on land during the day and convinces Ngai (the god of everywhere and everything) to let him live in the river instead. But first he has to assure Ngai that he won't eat the fish.
Relationship between text and visual pictures
This is one example of how the art and text mirror each other. Each spread is a visual representation of the text, complete with thought bubbles emerging from Hippo as he dreams what it would be like to swim in the river. Color is used to portray the sharp differences between the heat of the land and the cool of the water. The watercolor effect also reminds readers that this is a folktale of a hippopotamus talking with a god.
Storytelling and appeal
Cultural folklore stories have an appeal far beyond the age range of a typical picture book. They can be used for so much more than being an engaging read with attractive, imaginative pictures. With this particular story, there's also a non-scientific animal habitat study to it. Why does the hippopotamus live in the water if it's too heavy to swim? What does a hippopotamus eat? As a picture book with such closely related text and pictures also provides an opportunity for independent reading.
Additional notes
Even though
Hot Hippo is a modern retelling of the Maasai origin stories--the story of their god, N'gai, distributing the animals--it closely follows the traditional oral stories passed down from generation to generation. Both the author and illustrator grew up in Kenya and were exposed to the same stories from young ages. The Maasai tribe spans the borders of the east African nations of Tanzania and Kenya.
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Beyond the Bright Sea
