Alphabet Soup

by Kate Banks

Illus. in full color. "A fantasy-adventure takes place at the lunch table when a disgruntled boy refuses to eat his soup and daydreams instead. His reverie is shaped by the letters he pulls out of his soup, forming words that come bear, sword, and so on. Imaginative and fresh."-- Booklist.  

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fantasy, Fiction, Language

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Kate Banks has written many books for children, among them Max’s Words, And If the Moon Could Talk, winner of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and The Night Worker, winner of the Charlotte Zolotow Award. She grew up in Maine, where she and her two sisters and brother spent a lot of time outdoors, and where Banks developed an early love of reading. “I especially liked picture books,” she says, “and the way in which words and illustrations could create a whole new world in which sometimes real and other times magical and unexpected things could happen.” Banks attended Wellesley College and received her masters in history at Columbia University. She lived in Rome for eight years but now lives in the South of France with her husband and two sons, Peter Anton and Maximilian.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/katebanks

Reviews

[Patricia Kaniasty · Rating 5 out of 5]

My nine month old great nephew loved this story. He was fascinated by the little boy in the story and kept watching me as I read to him. He settled down nicely. The pictures are very cute. No better judge than a little one. LOL

[Haylieboyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is super cute for young children. this would be a great book for the beginning of the school year. you could also make this interactive by using abc spagettios or letting them eat abc spagettios for lunch!

[Yaricsa Lizama · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting book to read during storytime or bedtime. It is a story about a little boy spelling words with his alphabet soup and using his very creative imagination to create a story with the words he is spelling.

[Alyssa Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was great. A wonderfully imaginative story following a young boy who doesn't want to eat his lunch that builds the readers vocabulary and demonstrates the power of words along the way. Discovering the hidden meanings in the illustrations was a fun treat at the end as well!

[Natasha Richards · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very awesome. He is a picky eater, and his words show it! this book would catch attention. It would be good for the kids who can relate to him, the picky eater

[Anthony Ledford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a good book for entertainment and teaching kids the alphabet. It's not too long so your kids won't start dozing off on you

[Ana Tejada · Rating 4 out of 5]

The alphabet book is great to introduce alphabet to children and to let them explore letter sounds.

[Magdalena Chavez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. I enjoy the illustrations in this book. It is a great introduction to the alphabet for younger children.

[Paola Nunez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great to use for the alphabet. It not too long to the point that children will start to doze off. I enjoy the illustrations in the book.

[Scott Cahalan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to teach about the alphabet.

[Mayra Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to read out loud in your classroom. this book is for children who are learning how to spell. I really enjoyed reading this book.

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Banks Vault #23
Great little yarn to learn words with a crazy bowl of soup!

[Danielle Brill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alphabet Soup by Kate Banks is a wonderful book about a young boy who refuses to eat his dinner, and instead spells out the word bear with his alphabet soup as he growls like his bear to his mother. His dinner table comes to life in full illustration, he travels with bear up a fruit bowl mountain and battles a salt shaker with a fork sword. Each object he needs such as a rope or boat he acquires by spelling the word out with his alphabet soup. Boy and bear use the teapot to sleep in and ride out a storm, and by the time they leave in the morning the boy is hungry and eats his soup, just as he comes back to the dinner table. This book is so creative and incorporates spelling with a good lesson on finishing you dinner. It reminds me of Where the Wild Thing Are in a different and fun format is one of my new favorite picture books.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anyone who has tried to make words in their alphabet soup would like the imaginative tale of this little boy who is bored during his lunch and entertains himself with his soup and the items on the table. The softly muted illustrations by Peter Sis are very good, although not nearly as dramatic as those from some of his stories. Our girls enjoyed this story.

[Michael Koreis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was amazing! I think that this should be in all lower grade classrooms. My favorite part is how every part of the book is actually spelled out in the kid's soup bowl. The illustrations are wild, and can open up a child's imagination to places not yet discovered. I will have this in my collection for sure!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a kind of "Harold and the Purple Crayon" story in which a boy chooses letters from his alphabet soup and the word appears before him. It starts with a bear and the adventure begins. Illustrations by Peter Sis add a surreal touch.

[Jenn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Weird, kind of racist illustrations in my opinion, and the kid is mean to animals for no apparent reason.

[Sharena]

This is such a great book. This is great for early spellers that you may have in your class. It also exposes all the children to spelling. This is a good tool for language.

[Monica L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! What a fun book.
This book is full of imagination and adventure.
This would be a fun book to use for spelling.
You could bring in pasta and use it to have the children spell out the words.

[Kennedy Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books is great for children to read when learning the alphabet. It gives different examples for each word.