DISCOVERING NATURE’S ALPHABET

Wordless except for opening and closing remarks, an occasional phrase of commentary and a key at the back, this album of carefully framed but un-retouched photographs captures letter shapes in vines and tree branches, tufts of moss, rock formations, strands of seaweed, a lizard’s tail and other natural objects. The pictures, arranged several to a spread, were shot mostly in California—but children anywhere will find in them an invitation to “collect” the letters that can be found all around: sometimes hidden, more often in plain sight. Shelve near Kjell Block Sandved’s similar Butterfly Alphabet (1996) or Stephen Johnson’s photorealistic Alphabet City (1995). (Picture book. 4-6)