A Prairie Alphabet

by Jo Bannatyne-Cugnet

When most people think of the prairies, they picture endless flat plains, miles of farms with grain waving in the wind, gentle, undulating hills, and vast cattle ranches. But to the people who live there, particularly the children, the prairies are much more.

A Prairie Alphabet offers the adult and child alike a remarkable tour – from the grain elevators that are an integral part of the landscape, to oil rigs that pop up like “grasshoppers,” to fairs and rodeos, to auctions, barns, combines, and dugouts.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Canada, Art, Nonfiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1992

About the author

Children’s author Jo (Elizabeth Jo-Anne) Bannatyne-Cugnet was born on July 19, 1951, in Estevan and grew up in that city. She completed a BSc in Nursing at the University of Saskatchewan in 1974, and started work in Weyburn as a public health nurse. Bannatyne-Cugnet wrote to learn for herself and to teach her four sons about life on a prairie farm. She has been most successful in collaboration with Yvette Moore of Moose Jaw, the illustrator for A Prairie Alphabet, A Prairie Year, and Heartland, A Prairie Sampler, which have sold nearly half a million copies and won several awards. Other books include two novels for young children, one of which was translated into French, and a picture book on new Canadians. Regina composer Elizabeth Raum was inspired by Bannatyne-Cugnet’s work to write a symphony for children, “A Prairie Alphabet Musical Parade,” which has been recorded by the Regina Symphony Orchestra. Following early retirement from nursing in 1994, Bannatyne-Cugnet continues to write but spends considerable time doing volunteer work for community, social service and arts organizations.

Bob Ivanochko

Reviews

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-done alphabet book! Each letter features not just one word that corresponds to the letter, but an alliterative sentence with advanced vocabulary, and an illustration showcasing farming and the rural lifestyle. At the end, two appendices offer additional learning. The first appendix is an alphabetical listing of other fitting words which can also be seen or imagined in the corresponding illustrations. The second appendix, also arranged alphabetically, provides a brief description of a principal feature of the illustration or a key word from the sentence that represents each letter.

I couldn't see the dugout in the D picture, and at the end, I learned I had been looking for the definition of dugout that I am familiar with, a house carved out of a hillside, instead of the Canadian province definition of farm pond. It's written and illustrated by two Canadians and references some things more characteristic of the Canadian prairie provinces, which I viewed as an additional learning opportunity and a nice segue into regional culture of the various North American prairies. I'm impressed by the thought and effort that went into this prairie primer and the number of educational objectives it satisfies.

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Specific to the farming areas of Southern Saskatchewan (and with accompanying illustrations by Yvette Moore that are gloriously detailed, minutely descriptive and basically like detailed folk art paintings), Jo Bannatyne-Cugnet's A Prairie Alphabet is both informative, enlightening and also still very much focuses on older children from about age six to eight actually learning and practicing their letters (both majuscule and minuscule letters are shown, and the twenty-six alphabet sections not only present specific farm/prairie oriented textual blurbs, most of the descriptive words used are alliterative, which means that they begin with the featured letter). And thus, for the letter B, two Belgians named Bill and Bob bed in the barn, and for the letter M, a mouse munches a meal of millet by moonlight (and so on and so on, of course). In other words, A Prairie Alphabet is to be regarded as an actual alphabet book and NOT so much as a tome that uses the form and structure of the latter but does then not really spend too much time actually presenting and working with the letters of the alphabet (A Prairie Alphabet specifically features Saskatchewan prairie farming, but also very much focuses on letter and language practice, review).

Each of the twenty-six letter narratives are short but factually dense (and the alliterative use of the specific letters really does seem to work well with regard to familiarising and practising the alphabet, whilst also showing an informative romp through Saskatchewan, the prairies and farming culture, which information might also be further expanded upon by reading/using the supplemental details on each blurb presented at the back of A Prairie Alphabet). And for additional practice, Jo Bannatyne-Cugnet has also included a page of additional words for each of the letter sections (not only wonderful for additional language arts practicing, but ALL of the words are indeed related and thematically linked to and with the prairie/farming texts found the main section). Very highly recommended, and considering that the farming areas of Southern Saskatchewan are also rather similar in scope, geography and all-round feel to the farming areas of Southern Alberta, Southern Manitoba as well as the American Mid-West, A Prairie Alphabet could also be used as a language and letter based general introduction to North American prairie farming and life!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

turns out there are prairies in canada, who knew? i got this book thinking it was about america (the u.s.a. version). the letter "a" corrected me of that thought. "We auction our Aberdeen Angus at Agribition."
Aberdeen is the planet Princess Leia was from that got destroyed in Star Wars, Angus is Jack in the Box's word for hamburger and not even spellcheck knows what an Agribition is. the illustration w/the phrase is of some cold people sitting the stands at an indoor volleyball court watching a curly haired white woman pulling a cow's ear. there is a woman behind the cow holding a long stick. the cow doesn't look happy.

looking at the front cover i saw a v.large sticker featuring a winged unicorn rearing up which reads "Mr. Christie's Book Award Best Canadian Children's Book" and the spine shows it is published by the wonderful Canadian kidlit publisher Tundra. those should have been clues letting me know i'd need the terrific glossary in the back. the letter phrases are quite clever, far above the usual a-b-c book level and there are notes in the back telling what other things w/the particular letter are in the matching illustration.

and now i know what sundogs are.

[CanadianReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is lovely, beautifully representing the prairie landscape. Some great activities are included for primary school children.

[Kori Schlesener · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very cute book to incorporate the rural area in with the alphabet,me specially for students from a rural area. It had some pretty advance words, I thought maybe too advanced for a student reading it while learning the alphabet. It had some awesome illustrations that I really enjoyed and was fun to read.

[Felicia Custis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very informational book about the Prairie, more so the oil rigs, barns, auctions, just the daily life and what it is like to live on the Prairie. This would be a good book to use in a classroom when discussing this lifestyle, or even showing children that there is more to just buying things from a store.

[Kimikimi]

Love the art

[wildct2003 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Effective use of each letter. Good artwork.