Peanut Butter And Jellyfishes: A Very Silly Alphabet Book (Millbrook Picture Books)
PreSchool-Grade 2–This ambitious book provides colorful collages, hidden letters, word pictures, and alphabet sentences presented in rhyme while avoiding many of the pitfalls of the genre. By melding together nonsensical sentences that are as wacky as the illustrations, Cleary opens up the field to using verbs and adjectives as well as nouns. E is for each evergreen Elvis potted. K starts karate and kangaroos kissing, and kilt-wearing kittens whose kickstands are missing. Both upper- and lowercase are highlighted. The pre-title page invites readers to play along. Every letter of the alphabet is hidden in the pictures of this book. So are many things that start with each letter. The endpapers list the many objects, including 10 N things, 6 Z things, and 6 things with X in them. For some reason, G is squeezed onto the page with F and H, with only five items (including the name of the gerbil). The rhythm of the rhyme falters here, as well. Overall, though, this book will round out an alphabet theme or stand alone as a fun read.–June Wolfe, Bushnell-Sage Library, Sheffield, MACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.