"We are peas - alphabet peas!
We work and play in the ABCs.
We're acrobats, artists, and astronauts in space."
So, who would have thought that L, M, N, O, P could become LMNO peas and spawn an inventive, entertaining and highly engaging book about vegetables for young readers? Obviously, Keith Baker did!
Listeners from the back of the readaloud group will be able to spot the large colorful letters that each page boasts. They are textured, bright and capitalized. However, it will be in sharing this book one on one that you have the chance to experience the real delight of the cast of characters (all remarkably alike) who bring life and exuberance to the occupations presented. There are lively rhymes and full-of-action images as they eat, farm, listen, mine, sail, vote and weave. You will need time to pore over each illustration of the little mites as they display the joys of their jobs for all to see. It is definitely worthy of a do-over!
I am eternally amazed at the ideas that talented artists use to make the alphabet more interesting for us. I boast in my workshops that we had more than 50 alphabet books on the library shelves at my last school. I have often suggested that teachers of writing (at all levels) use the alphabet as a way to share ideas, learning, research and passions in a new and intriguing way. If we want kids to write about what they know, get them to think in terms alphabetical. Or pair them up and see what they can do together! I know it seems simple but it can become quite complicated, depending on the impetus for using it to share new learning. It is also a perfect way to try something new in terms of illustration...the computer, the camera, collage. The possibilities are endless.
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