An Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers
| An Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers | |
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| Category: For Sharing | |
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Reviewer: Zoe Page
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| Summary: A lovely alphabet book, this has some more unusual, vocabulary-expanding words. Charming! | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 28 | Date: August 2016 |
| Publisher: HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0008182519 | |
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Some might say you only ever need one alphabet book in a home. Considering we have half a dozen (and, as it happens, no little ones in the house) I would counter this with a question: how many words are there in the world? Because when you only get one for each letter, you may find a simple book of 26 entries may not be enough.
Imaginatively called An Alphabet this is a familiar A is for…,B is for… style book but is so minimalist it's even got rid of some of those superfluous words. So page one there's just one word: astronaut. This is accompanied by a man, suitably attired and floating through space. There's a neat addition of the initial, both upper and lower case, in the top corner of each page, but that is it. No extra words, no narrative, no description, no distractions.
You can see my star rating for this one so you'll know I enjoyed it, and the reason is simple. I just really, really liked the rather eclectic choice of words that feature. If you were playing an alphabet game these aren't the ones that might be top of your list and yet if you were playing eye-spy, out in the real world, well then so many of these would be strong contenders: bridge, donkey, light bulb.
There are a few more you might know of but never come across yourself. King, for example, or robot. Some are concepts, such as underground or question but even these are neatly illustrated. The pictures are at times scruffy, hand-drawn affairs which add a lovely rustic feel to the book, and many of the colours are muted rather than neon shades.
There's little else to say about this book, except it's as good as any other alphabet list, and may, on occasion, be much easier on the eye for adult care givers. Neatly executed this sturdy board book can be given to even teeny tinies, safe in the knowledge that a little dribble won't do much to damage it.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending us a copy to review. It's really, rather lovely.
For other works by the author, check out our listings on his page Oliver Jeffers.
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You can read more book reviews or buy An Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers 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 An Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers at Amazon.com.
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