TANGERINES AND TEA

A quite unusual abcedarium presents the letters of the alphabet in alliterative one-line rhymes, e.g. “a boy in bath with bubbly laugh,” depicted in Heo’s whimsical style. After the first word, “Apples,” there is no capitalization (except for the pronoun “I”) in the continuous string of phrases and sentences, just commas that separate each page, without the letters represented in the illustrations. Nowhere in the text are the familial relationships of the two children and two adults made clear or that the rhymes form a thinly threaded story; the jacket blurb is the only place to spell out that it’s a brother and sister visiting grandparents on their farm during different seasons. Some poetic images are less evocative than others: “icing to try for those quicker than I” (finger swiping icing from a cake slice). For Q, “the quiet of night with our quilts tucked in tight.” Obviously, not an ABC book for learning letters but it could be an interesting sharing exercise. Arch, brash, cunning. (Picture book. 6-8)