Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
A Little Book About ABCs
Board Book
For ages 2 to 5
Random House Books for Young Readers, 2019 ISBN: 978-0525582281
For many years Leo Leonni has been delighting children with his wonderful picture books. Now he and illustrator Julie Hamilton have collaborated to create a series of board books for little children that explore simple concepts. In this book Leo and Julie take young readers through the alphabet from A to Z, and on most of the spreads, Leo’s iconic little mouse characters are there to be our guides.
We begin with the letter A and we see one of Leo’s mice who thinks that it is “always a treat to see an alligator.” On the facing page we see an alligator who is warming itself in the sun. More little mice appear on the page for the letter C. The mice are delighted because they are sharing the page with chunks of cheese. Later on in the book we see a mouse flying a kite, and another mouse raking “lots of lovely leaves.”
Children will notice how, on many pages, Leo uses clever alliteration to help them practice using the letter of the alphabet that is presented there. Among others we encounter “many mice” on the M page, a “pile of pebbles” on the P page, and “shells in the sand” on the S page.
Adults will surely enjoy sharing this charming book with the children in their lives.
