Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Cleo's Alphabet Book
Illustrator: Caroline Mockford
Board book Series
For ages 4 to 6
Barefoot Books, 2007 ISBN: 978-1846860461
Most alphabet books for young children start with some variation of “A is for apple.” This alphabet board book is different because we are not told what A is for at all. Instead, we have to figure out the word that goes with A for ourselves.
With Cleo the cat serving as our companion, we take a journey through the alphabet, and for each letter we have to use the picture and text clues to figure out what the letter on that page is for.
For example, on the J page we see a picture of a plate sitting on a table. There is a jar containing something red next to the plate, and two pieces of toast spread with something red are lying on the plate. Cleo the cat is looking on as we read that “J makes toast taste sweet.” We have to decide what we think the J word is.
On the R page, Cleo is sitting on a wall, and there is a plant covered with pink flowers climbing up the wall. Something on that page has a name that begins with R, and we have to try to find out what that something is.
Children who like solving puzzles, and who like trying to find out answers, are going to love this clever little book. Children will enjoy the challenges that they are presented with, and grownups can supplement the clues in on the pages with clues of their own if they want to. This book therefore presents adults with the opportunity to interact with their child using a book.
This is one in a series of picture and board books featuring Cleo the cat.
