A is for Axel: An Ice Skating Alphabet (Sports Alphabet)
Grade 2-4–The popular and successful Canadian figure skater gives readers a great deal of information about skating technique and equipment. As an alphabet book, it works reasonably well with the exception of a few weak word choices (e.g., N is for Needs more practice...And Never give up…. and Y is for You. There's a typo for the letter Q: The rink becomes a blur,/your spinning now don't quit. The colorful, realistic oil paintings are the book's best feature. The reading level varies as this is almost two books in one. The rhyming text giving the alphabet is appropriate for K-3 level, while the majority of the text in the sidebars is about a grade three and up reading level in rather small type. Add this to your collection as an extra purchase for your skating fans, not as a first choice. Or you may prefer Naia Bray-Moffatt'sIce Skating School(DK, 2004) or Debbi Wilkes'sThe Figure Skating Book(Firefly, 2000).–Kate Kohlbeck, Randall School, Waukesha, WICopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.