Once Upon: A Fairytale Alphabet

by Judith Graves

ONCE A FAIRYTALE ALPHABET is a whimsical introduction to fairytale and folklore tropes, characters, and vocabulary.

Readers of all ages will enjoy making connections to their favourite tales of old through humour-laden text and vibrant illustrations. From poison apples, birthday dragons, sketchy forests, and clueless huntsmen...this alphabet book functions like a fractured fairy tale, heralding one letter of the alphabet at a time.

Your quest begins the moment you start reading!

Genres: Picture Books

34 pages, Paperback

Published September 3, 2023

About the author

Heya! I'm Judith Graves, an award-winning young adult fiction author, children's book author/illustrator, and screenwriter. I live in Albany, Prince Edward Island with my husband and our sassy fur babies. I write and illustrate stories with attitude.

Reviews

[Catherine Craig (Angelic Light) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a children's book showing fairytale and folklore tropes, told using the letters of the alphabet and easy to read text, through quirky illustrations. Some examples are: poison apples, birthday dragons, an ogre, a villain, sketchy forests, a raven, a unicorn and a thorn. Although this book is interesting, I found it a bit dark, and my daughter was a little bit scared by some of the beings in the book.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

[Stormi Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this story. It's a magical way to learn the alphabet. I wish it was around when my boys were younger. I have a niece on the way. I would love to be able to get a copy for her.

It brought a bunch of fairytales together in the culmination of a magical learning tool. Thank you to netgalley and the author for this copy in return for an honest review.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once Upon: A Fairytale Alphabet
by Judith Graves
A beautiful book with great art. The fantasy nature of the alphabet was not predictable. the symbolism of the representations were cross fantasy culture. With recognizable books and stories that are referenced with honor and bright enjoyment. the book is a great introduction to young children of the stories of fantasy and books their parents have read and loved. A new twist on the alphabet book, and a resource for teachers to help inspire children to create their own books about alphabets, and their knowledge of their reading, world, and interest.

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once Upon is an odd yet interesting alphabet book. I loved the choices for most of the alphabet examples. And the illustrations, while a bit dark and creepy, were still whimsical in nature. Despite it being a fairytale alphabet book, it didn't feel gendered solely towards girls. I think anyone could enjoy this one. My issue is the descriptions for the words chosen. They started out great, but it seemed that as you go through the book, the descirptions become shorter and shorter. Going from two sentence explanations to just "_ is for ___." I am also not sure what happened after the letter w since everything from that point just stopped making sense.

[Elizabeth Dickerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun way to learn the alphabet! Fantastic connections to fairy tales and colorful illustrations to bring the book to life. XYZ connections were a pleasant surprise and it was just what my library needs for teaching alphabetical order.

[Erica Baxter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! This is my kind of alphabet book. Clever, rhyming, with whimsical art. I even got a good chuckle out of the rhyme for “wish.”

This is the perfect alphabet book for kids who love magic and fairytales.

[Melanie Gaum · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a digital ARC from Netgalley.

[Julie Ditton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This lovely alphabet picture book uses fairytale motifs to illustrate each letter. From ”A is for Apple whose poison is true "all the way to the sleeping child zzz, this book is delight for children of all ages.

This unbiased review was written after reading an advanced reader copy courtesy of the publishers and NetGalley.