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PRESCHOOL
Harris, Chris

The Alphabet's Alphabet

48 pp. | Little | September, 2020 | Trade ISBN 978-0-316-26662-8 $17.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-0-316-26660-4 $9.99
(2) PS Illustrated by Dan Santat. In this cheery and engaging alphabet book, a classroom full of anthropomorphic letters at Times New Roman School explores the day's lesson: "For all of the letters--from A on through Z-- / Can look like each other in some way, to me." Rhyming text from poet Harris (I'm Just No Good at Rhyming, rev. 11/17) spotlights letter pairs, offering comparisons that are playful as well as thought-provoking (though not always sensitive: "A P is a B that just went on a diet"). Santat's vibrant cartoony digital illustrations support meaning-making; rounded corners and bold black outlines emit a vintage photographic-slide vibe. Silly moments of dialogue (in word balloons) and wonderfully adept facial expressions add extra humor to each snapshot. In one illustration, A smiles and says, "Yay! My grade is the same as my name!" while F adds, "Yay! Mine isn't!" A sentimental message of unity and connectedness ends the narrative, alongside a secret communication that readers can decode using the story as a key. Endpapers recall popular English-language handwriting practice exercises. Recommended for fans of wordplay and other pun-filled alphabet books such as Tom Lichtenheld's E-mergency!
Reviewer: Elisa Gall | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2020

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