Alphabet Under Construction
The only one having a better time than the buck-toothed Mouse inAlphabet Under Constructionis Denise Fleming, the gifted writer and  illustrator who here brings back the hungry hero ofLunchfor a trip through the  alphabet and an arts-and-crafts roll call.Letter by letter, page by page, the playful Mouse "constructs" the  alphabet--airbrushing the A, buttoning the B, carving the C, and so on,  employing all manner of scaffolds, ladders, and high- and low-tech devices to  get the job done. (Clearly Mouse didn't really blow his budget until near the  end, on the custom tiles, the X-ray machine, and the welding equipment.) Fleming  employs an arcane process that involves "pouring colored cotton pulp through  hand-cut stencils" to create her distinctive style. But fortunately, you don't  have to have any idea what that means to enjoy her sense of humor, her vibrant  colors, and her boisterous compositions.Mouse gets messy before it's all over, but he delivers the alphabet on time--and  only has to work two weekends! (As a funny touch, Fleming includes a  note-covered project calendar that Mouse collapses under as he finishes.)Alphabet Under Constructionalso includes a fold-out, 42-by-7-inch poster  that shows every page, from A to Z. (Ages 4 to 8)--Paul Hughes