What's Inside: The Alphabet Book

by Satoshi Kitamura

Quality production

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Satoshi Kitamura was born in 1956. After dropping out of school to pursue art, Kitamura decided not to attempt a 10-year apprenticeship as a potter and instead worked as a graphic artist. He was not trained as an artist, but at the age of 19 began to do commercial work as an illustrator for adverts and magazines. He moved from Tokyo to London in 1979 where he worked mainly at designing greeting cards.
Satoshi Kitamura has won several awards, including the Mother Goose Award, the National Art Library Award from the Victoria and Albert Museum, and a Nestle Children’s Book Prize Silver Medal. He lives in Japan.

Reviews

[Clemmie Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kitamura has balanced his usual abstract & interesting illustrations with an alphabet guessing game. Clues on the previous page make children think what the letter could stand for, based on its visual representation. For example, the picture of an L next to a few rungs of a ladder poking out of the bottom of a tree becomes a full picture of a ladder with the text on the next page. Uses children's deductive, vocabulary and visual skills, helping them make sense of words-on-page to real-world use.

Interesting and new vocabulary for KS1 children. Could use with older children but get them to use more complex words and draw their own pictures!

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun book for teaching basic words with a guessing game thrown in, What's Inside? benefits from Kitamura's brilliant illustrations but perhaps doesn't hold the magic of some of his other titles.

[Lizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book, one of the very few alphabet books which are fun and interesting, and not BORING at all!! Win. Might have to get another copy in order to frame some of the pages.

[Kyoungbin Min · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. No awards
2. 2-3 years
3. This book has no stories but full of illustrations, showing different words in A-Z. The variety of words are diverse. The book gives hint at the images that appear on the following page so the readers can make a guess.
4. I really liked the illustrations. I think young children would love the book even if they're just starting with alphabets.
5. Reading time, read-aloud

[Nashiea Edmiston · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations of this alphabet book are very whimsical. I tried reading it to a 4 year old who has yet to master the alphabet and he had a difficult time following the book. Tried it with a 9-year old and she enjoyed the book, especially guessing what words would be next. The book is clever in that it displays a couple letters and hints at the images that will appear on the following page and the reader has to guess. Some of the words are a bit advanced such as "quill," which is why I feel this book would be suitable for older elementary, perhaps grades 2 and up.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an original alphabet book. Two letters are provided with small hints as to what they stand for. Your child has to guess what they stand for. You turn the page to find out if your guess is right.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great full-page colorful illustrations with letters of the alphabet paired sequentially, so that you have combinations like a hippo playing a guitar, an octopus playing a piano, and a rat writing with a quill. . .

[Ligaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite children's book illustrators! His watercolor and ink drawings are quirky and charming. The stories are simple but clever. Lovely!