THE AMICUS BOOK OF ABC

A collage-based approach to the ABC’s.

In both this book and the co-published The Amicus Book of 123, Lundie couples expertly rendered graphic collage with onomatopoeia-packed text to introduce children to the alphabet and counting, respectively. The illustrations in these books are particularly impressive, featuring layers and textures that make the images bounce off the pages: The jar of “jelly” has satisfying globs of strawberry goo surrounding an octagonal jar. While the pictures in ABCare child friendly—including a friendly dinosaur, a goofy-looking goat, and a kite that swishes across the page—the images in 123, which include a fried egg and house plants, feel more adult. In both books, small missteps, such as choosing “ship” for S in ABC, thereby using a blend instead of the phonetic sound, and placing six collaged bees atop a low-contrast waxy yellow background in 123, indicate a lack of familiarity with best practices for introducing children to letters and counting. Generally, though, the detailed pictures coupled with the verb-packed text in both books give readers a delightful feeling of motion, and the vocabulary and text are well suited to beginning readers who are just starting to recognize words and letters.

With its companion, colorful, beautifully illustrated additions to the ABC and 123 shelves.