lmnop

Someone changed the melody to the English alphabet song. No more rushing through lmnop! Funny how, in all the years I sang that song as a child and then as an SLP, I never questioned the intelligibility of that middle section. This modification got me thinking about the many alphabet books I’ve come across. Some feature famous people, states, foods, and nature.  One of my favorites is Max’s ABC by Rosemary Wells (2008) because it tells a story. I bought my young adult V is for Vulnerable: Life Outside the Comfort Zone, An ABC for Grownups by Seth Grodin (2012).

May I suggest ABC books that feature fine art? My collection has only two such books left.

A is for artist by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (1997) is eight inches square, a good size for small hands. Capital letters are front and center on the left facing pages with corresponding words in lower case beneath them. The illustrations filling the right facing pages are details from works of art. For example, “D is for dog” with only the dog from Portrait of John Talbot, Later 1^st Lord Talbot, 1773 by Pompeo Batoni. Museum ABC published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2002) depicts details from four paintings for each letter of the alphabet. One could spend hours staring at the entries. This book is also a size for young hands at about nine inches square.

I’m not concerned so much with the choice of art for these books. My only intention is to suggest that very young readers gaze at something other than digital art and Disney.  I’m pretty sure there are more ABC books that feature fine art and craft if one is on the lookout for them.