Alison Jay's ABC by Alison Jay

Alison Jay's ABC by Alison Jay
Buy Alison Jay's ABC by Alison Jay at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: For Sharing
Reviewer: Linda Lawlor
Summary: A warm and whimsical journey through the alphabet. Small children will derive great pleasure from identifying all the different objects on each page which begin with the same letter.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 30	Date: July 2017
Publisher: Templar Publishing
ISBN: 9781787410190
Share on:

At first glance, this is a beautiful but fairly standard alphabet book: one letter per page with a nice big picture of an apple or a panda front and centre - after all, the ABC format is pretty restrictive, isn't it? And truth be told, that's all most small people will see first time round. But look a little closer . . .

B may well be for balloon, and there's a lovely one here, floating gently over the countryside, but it's also for bee, butterfly, beehive and basket, all of which appear somewhere in the landscape, adding to the fun. And then there's a further delight: one person, animal or object from each page sneaks onto the next one too, presenting the child (and the adult!) with an extra challenge as the book is read and reread. Caution – finding some of them will require a very sharp eye, and older siblings may have to be drafted in to help. And that's not all! There is even a very loose kind of story in the pages, with the explorer following his map to the treasure through various lands before returning home triumphant with his gold-filled chest and a goodly collection of the animals he's encountered, thus providing a final opportunity for spotting and naming.

This is a solid, chunky book just over six inches square - not too large and heavy for little hands. The outer corners are curved, and the pages are sufficiently sturdy to allow them to be safely dropped (or used as missiles) from time to time. The surface is shiny, so they will probably stand the occasional smear of banana or broccoli too. Alison Jay's distinctive crackle-glazed finish gives the pages an aged appearance, like Old Masters or great-grandma's prized china teapot, and the colours, while fairly muted, are warm and cheerful. Definitely recommended.

There are tons of ABC books on the market, good, bad and indifferent, but Bookbag has seen some of the best. We specially recommend the gripping tale of the naughty dog that's trying to snaffle the pie in Apple Pie ABC by Alison Murray and the adventures of the lovable Kipper and his friend Arnold in Kipper's A To Z by Mick Inkpen.

Please share on: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

You can read more book reviews or buy Alison Jay's ABC by Alison Jay at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Alison Jay's ABC by Alison Jay at Amazon.com.

Comments

Like to comment on this review?

Just send us an email and we'll put the best up on the site.