Sports A-Z

Diehl, D. (2007). Sports A-Z. Illus. David Diehl. New York, New York: Larks Books, Inc.

Annotation: This is an alphabet book that goes through the alphabet using different terms for sports for each letter. For example, for "Z" they have hockey illustration with the word zamboni.

Genre: Alphabet children's book

Grade Level: Pre-K- K

Readings who would like this: This would be a great book for parents to have, especially if they have a little boy. They can help them learn the alphabet and different words in the alphabet by reading this book.

Rating/Response: I give this book a 4. I think it is awesome to see a children's book more directed towards boys. I think the illustrations are awesome as well.

Question: Do you know your ABC's?

Reading Strategy:
a) Tompkins, #25 (literacy center)
b) I think the making words literacy center would be great. Children create certain words based on a particular spelling pattern that the teacher decides to have.
c) This would pair great to have students take different letters of the alphabet to create words. The teacher could work on A-F one day or whatever and have students create words using those letters.

Eating the Alphabet- Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z

Bibliographic Information: Ehlert, L. (1989) Eating the Alphabet- Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Annotation: This books lists the letters of the alphabet and includes at least one fruit or vegetable for each letter.

Genre: Picturebook

Grade Level: Nursery, Primary (Birth to age 8)

Readers who will like this book: Children who like colors, children learning the alphabet

Response/Rating: I love the large, bright and bold pictures of the food. I love that all the words are listed twice, all lower case letters and all capitalized letters. 4

Classroom Question: Do you like fruit? Do you like vegetables? What kind is your favorite?

Eating the Alphabet

Bibliographic Information: Ehlert, L. (1989). Eating the Alphabet. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace and Company.

Brief Annotation: This is an alphabet book that list various fruits and vegetables from A to Z.

Genre: Alphabet Picture book

Grade Level: K-3

Readers who will like this: Students who are learing the alphabet; students who are learning about different kinds of foods; children who love to eat fruits or vegetables.

Response/Rating (1-4): 4; This book would be a very good source for introducing different kinds of fruits and vegetables to students. I especially liked how the chinese word for watermelon was used for listing a fruit that begins with the letter "x." The glossary which included all the listed fruits and vegetables was a plus!

One question you would ask before a read aloud: What is your favorite fruit or vegetable?

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Bibliographic Information: Archambault, J and Martin, B. (1991). Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Illus. Lois Ehlert. New York City, New York: Scholastic, Inc.

Annotation: A goofy story involving all of the letters in the alphabet and their attempt to fit in a coconut tree together. They all end up falling out but when night falls, "a" tries to beat them all to the top of the tree once again.

Genre: Picturebook

Grade Level: PK-1

Readers who will like this book: Visual readers and those becoming familiar with the alphabet.

Personal response: I enjoy this book because it is an educational book in a sneaky way. The book is full of rhymes, silly but descriptive words, and of course the entire alphabet in order. It is also a highly visually appealing book with intense colors. I rate this book at a 3.

A question you would ask before reading: Who can recite the alphabet for me?

Alphabatics

Bibliographic Information: MacDonald, Suse. (1986). Alphabatics. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Brief Annotation: This is an alphabet book with a twist. Before each word, the letters spin and contort to create a part of the image that represents the word.

Genre: Alphabet

Grade Level: Pre-K - 1

Readers who will like this book: Anyone who is learning the alphabet and likes to turn things around to see what they make.

Rating/Response: 2 out of 4. The illustrations are interesting and fun, especially the turning of the letters. MacDonald uses a few words rarely used in alphabet books, but most are common words.

One question I would ask before a read aloud: How do letters turn into shapes and pictures?

The Graphic Alphabet

Bibliographic Information: Pelletier, D. (1996). The graphic alphabet. New York, New York: Orchard Books, Inc.

Annotation: An alphabet book using creative and unusual illustrations to show the meaning of the words it highlights.

Genre: Alphabet Book

Grade Level: K-5

Readers Who Will Like This Book: Readers of all ages

Personal Response and Rating: I rate this book a 4. I found this book creative and unusual in its approach with the alphabets as well as the illustrations.

Prereading Question: The children would be asked to close their eyes and tell me what picture comes to mind when I say a word, such as "party" or "slide".

Reading Strategies Connection:

A. Reading Strategy - Picture Packets

B. Description of Strategy - Students are given a packet of pictures that directly relate to the book being read.

C. Rationale - The graphic nature of the book lends itself to this strategy using pictures to help develop students' prior knowledge of certain words and actions. Pairing a photographic image with the letter the word begins with will help students see the relationship between the author's choice of pairing a picture with a letter as well as seeing the letter within the graphic image itself.

Alphabet City

Bibliographic Information (APA): Johnson, S. (1995). Alphabet City. Illus. Stephen Johnson. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

Brief Annotation: This is a wordless picture book. This book uses pictures of letters of the alphabet that the author found.

Genre: Alphabet Children's Book

Grade Level: Preschool-Kindergarten

Readers who will like this: Children who are learning the alphabet or children who like search and finds.

Response/Rating (1-4): 3; The pictures seem a little outdated but I love that this is so different that most alphabet books. When looking through this book sometimes I had to pause and try and find the letter in the picture. Not all of the letters in this book are obvious and jump out at you. It would be fun to use this as a read aloud and have the children try to find the letters in the picture as well as determine what letter will come next in the book.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: Who has ever noticed letters in things such as trees, rocks, or anything outside?

Reading Strategies Connection:

Alphabet Book:

Children will examine this alphabet book as well as some others. The teacher will write all the letters of the alphabet on a large piece of paper. The children will each choose a letter to create for the book. When all of the children have a letter the teacher can talk about ways they can make a page for their letter. They can draw it, take a picture, or paint it. Each of the letters will be compiled into a class book. The teacher will bind it and then read it to the class.