You pre-k homes or places that cater to kids under second grade know there’s no shortage of alphabet books. Some of them take root because young audiences chew on the board book pages until they’re mush. There are some ABC books that use an established intellectual property to drive the vehicle. A to Z: An Animal Alphabet by Sara Boccaccini Meadows uses an established IP, albeit a niche one, oversized pages and gorgeous art to drive home the 26 letter kids need to learn.
The alphabet doesn’t change. Its letters will vary from upper to lower case, but they remain the same. Parents and educators have probably seen alphabet books that jam lots of animals or objects into said page on each letter covered. For the sake of conversation, let’s call that the busy approach. There’s nothing wrong with the busy approach. It’s loaded with colors, movement and all sorts of vocabulary words that kids can learn. In theory, that method is for slightly older audiences because they’re learning vocabulary, as well as, the alphabet, which they probably have had lots of exposure to by that point.
A to Z: An Animal Alphabet uses its big pages for dozens of the same animal to appear on the one or two that are dedicated to that letter. Young readers will see 14 butterflies spread over two pages. The biome of the butterfly creates a full canvas, except for a white oval with the sentence, “b is for butterfly”, in it. Amongst the butterflies young readers will see one other animal that starts with a ‘B’, and lots of different colored flowers.
So, it’s a Where’s Waldo type of illustrated book, but with one animal that doesn’t belong? Kind of, but describing it like that makes A to Z seem like more a game or an activity, when book is not that way. This is reading, or learning to love to read by enjoying spending time with a book. These young ages may not know their alphabet yet. Parents and teachers might simply want them to relax and enjoy some screen-free time with a book. It’s a bonus if they happen to learn something in an overt manner, and a book about the alphabet makes its intention clear.
The calm feeling kids get when they enter A to Z might surprise them. It’s the combination of the bigger than average pages, the lush art that’s corner-to-corner, the animals or the simplicity of its layout. It’s an animal-alphabet book that feels like an art show designed for children. Adults who might be worried about identifying the second animal that’s hiding in plain sight on each letter’s page can rest easy.
At the end of the book, neatly condensed onto one page is a listing of every gate crashing animal. The macaw is sharing space with the monkey. The egret is blending in with the elephants, and the kelp is in the same biome as the killer whale. The secondary animals are all listed alphabetically, but you can still be the cool adult and pretend that you see the uakari before they do.
This is the sixth release in the In Our Nature book series, and A to Z: An Animal Alphabet is not like the others. They are more like a reference book for elementary school STEM research papers. Each page might have six paragraphs with specific details about an impossibly beautiful animal. It’s further complemented by a couple of sentences at the top of the page as the animal, or its characteristics, are introduced. What this book has in common with the others is its impressive size and standout illustrations, all of which are done by Sara Boccaccini Meadows. That fact alone makes this book one of those which will end up in your forever library.
A to Z: An Animal Alphabet: A Seek-and-Find ABC Book with Hidden Animals for Kids is by Sara Boccaccini Meadows and is available on Magic Cat Publishing, an imprint of Abrams Books.
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