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Response/Rating (1-4): 3; The pictures seem a little outdated but I love that this is so different that most alphabet books.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.