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Take Away the A by Michael Escoffier and Kris Di Giacomo (view source)
Revision as of 12:29, 18 August 2020
, 12:29, 18 August 2020no edit summary
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What happens when you take away the letter 'A' from the word 'Beast'? You get 'Best'! Similarly , without the 'B' the 'Bride' goes for a 'Ride' or without the 'C' the 'Chair' has 'Hair'.
I don't think I need to go on for you to get the idea of how this alphabet book works. It is a truly inspired idea that made me very excited to get hold of the book. Sadly, the reality didn't live up to my expectation.
The book jacket invites the reader to search for their own word pairs, saying there are 'loads more out there'. If this is the case, I can't help but wonder why the authors chose so many obscure ones for inclusion in the book. For example, I realise that 'Q' is a difficult letter but I needed google to find out what a 'Faqir' is (and, interestingly, several online dictionaries disagreed!).
The colours throughout the book are rather muted but maybe, by spurning vibrant colours, the illustrator is trying to give a more 'grown -up' look to the book in order to appeal to older children. I do think children will enjoy the humour in the illustrations: for example, there is a great picture of the mouse tail sticking out of the cat's mouth or an Octopus clinging onto a parachuting monkey. However, I didn't like it where the illustrator's American roots led them to draw trousers for pants (or possibly the book was initially designed for an audience in the USA).
Overall, although this book failed to live up to my expectations, it remains a good concept. If children who are old enough to understand aren't put off by the format, it will encourage them to think about spelling in a different and fun way.
If you're looking for a more traditional alphabet book for younger children why not try [[ABC and Do by Lee Singh and Karen Wall]]. You might also enjoy [[Where's the BaBOOn? by Michael Escoffier and Kris Di Giacomo]].
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