ABCers

by Carole Lexa Schaefer, Pierr Morgan (Illustrator)

Learn the ABCs in a new way! What are ABCers? They’re Book readers and Friend greeters, Lap sitters and Race runners. When these friends go to the park to play, they sing and giggle, jump and tiptoe all the way from A to Z. Children will love following them throughout their very active day, as well as coming up with all the ABC things that they can do themselves, too! Filled with action, ABCers encourages learning, as well as play.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Storytime, Friendship

40 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 28, 2012

About the author

When Carole Lexa Schaefer was growing up, she wanted to be both a poet and a journalist. In an unexpected way, she feels she achieved her ambition. While studying for a master's degree in early childhood education, she once put together a picture book made of photo essays. "The lyrical, every-word-counts genre captivated the poet and journalist in me," Carole Lexa Schaefer recalls--and she's been writing stories for children ever since. Her first book with Candlewick, THE COPPER TIN CUP, traces the origin of a family keepsake that's been handed down for generations. "It was inspired by my connections with my immigrant relatives through stories and songs--invisible heirlooms--to keep handing on," she says.

The longtime director of a Seattle preschool that she founded in 1980, Carole Lexa Schaefer often draws on her experience with young children when writing stories. In DOWN IN THE WOODS AT SLEEPYTIME, not one of the baby animals in the woods is ready to go to bed, until Grandma Owl finally finds a way to settle everyone down. The author says she was inspired "by all my friends at Little Friends Preschool who like to play just a little bit longer--even at sleepytime." Luckily, preschool teachers now have some help at nap time: DOWN IN THE WOODS AT SLEEPYTIME, says PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, is a book in which "author and artist make bedtime about as appealing as it gets."


With her next books, Carole Lexa Schaefer switches gears from sleepytime to partytime. FULL MOON BARNYARD DANCE is a rousing read-aloud that showcases farm animals dancing as they learn to appreciate their differences. ONE WHEEL WOBBLES, a zany counting book, follows one fun-loving family on Family Parade Day as they roll along on an ever-increasing number of wheels--Gramma on a motorcycle, Sister on a trike, and Grampa on some snazzy skates. Of ONE WHEEL WOBBLES, Carole Lexa Schaefer explains, "I wanted to create a counting book for children with which they could have a rollicking good time."


Carole Lexa Schaefer, who has a master's degree in early childhood education from the University of Washington, taught school for ten years in places as varied as Taiwan, Switzerland, and Micronesia, as well as Missouri and Washington. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, the author now lives in Seattle.

Reviews

[La Tonya Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated to learn your ABC's. Each letter stands for an activity or word. For example,
E is for Eek! squealers and V is for Veggie growers.

Quote

O is for Owie getters

Q is for Question askers

Z is zee end.

[Pamela Kramer · Rating 5 out of 5]

“ABCers” by Carole Lexa Schaefer and illustrated by Pierr Morgan is a picture book for not only young readers, but for older readers who may be English language learners.

On one level, it’s an ABC book. It begins with the letter A, ends with the letter Z, and is filled in between with simply illustrated pictures of children doing fun child activities like licking ice cream, giving giggles, splashing water and asking questions.

What makes this a great book for English language learners and primary students is the way that each sentence is written. “A is for arm linkers.” Teaching suffixes is a wonderful way to increase a child’s vocabulary. Studies have shown that if a child is taught prefixes and suffixes, his or her vocabulary will improve more than a child just taught vocabulary words.

The simple picture book is a great way to teach one of the most basic suffixes, “er.” Children are fascinated that when one takes the word “bake” and adds an “er” to make “baker,” it means “someone who bakes.” Those children will love this book.

Read the whole review at: http://www.examiner.com/review/abcers...

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

My five-year-old son picked this book out from the library this week. He likes alphabet books.

He did not, however, like this alphabet book. Nor did I. I did not like anything about this book. I did not like the made-up words for the alphabetic activities. I did not like the lack of a story. I did not like the lack of humor or charm. I did not like the illustrations. At all.

This book is an F. F is for Faulty Storytelling.

[Kristin Schmidt · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book could have been good/cute, but there are some sentences that just make no sense. I would like my kids' books to at least teach them to speak correctly. "C is for Color drawers"?? What??

[Lexi Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this book a rating of 3 stars because it was not my favorite book that I have read. Since I am older I obviously don't enjoy these books, but I do feel that this book is perfect for beginning learners who are just starting out with generating sounds and learning their ABC's. I feel as if littler learners will enjoy the illustrations of this book as they are fun and things little learners would do.

This book goes through the ABC's and tells what each letter stands for. For example, they say A is for arm linkers, B is for book readers, C is for color drawers, etc. This is a perfect book for children starting out.

[Amber Barron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give this book 5 stars out of 5 because the illustrations were very vibrant and they went well with the words stated on the page. This book goes through the whole alphabet from A to Z and it uses sentences with a specific letter. For example, the letter "P is for Piggyback ridders". The illustrations in this book make it look very interesting and engaging. In this book when we get to the letter I it says "I is for Ice cream lickers" and it shows children with ice cream in their hands licking it. I would use this book with kindergarteners because it would help them learn the alphabet and show them words starting with the letters.

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a simple read-aloud book following a group of friends doing various things together around town, each page introducing a sequential letter of the alphabet and activity the characters are showing to represent that letter. I find the illustrations quite simple and easy, hand-drawn(I believe marker and colored pencil) for young children to recognize as a familiar art style, but I do think they could use more vibrancy. Overall a very basic and predictable read for children 3-6 who are just learning the alphabet or learning to make and interact with friends.

[Edward Sojuwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ABCers are the neighborhood kids who live every letter of the alphabet to the full-- the arm wrestlers, book readers, color artists, and so on thru the ABCs of being a kid, on thru to the end where everyone naps off a few Zs. Carole Lexa Schaefer gets creative and fun with alphabet learning for kids in the inner city projects, where the illustrations take us to and in a way that honors the streets. It's like early Sesame Street. Maybe better.
Four stars
ABC-- All Buttkicking Cool!

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

LFL find. What a delight! I really want to live in this neighborhood, where diverse kids can safely have little summer adventures together being Ice cream lickers, Kitten petters, and (buy from) Veggie growers....

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great alphabet book, showing all the different talents and abilities our friends can have. Love it.

[Ruth Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

With retro-type illustrations, author Schaefer gives kids a slightly different perspective on the alphabet.

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a very creative alphabet book.

[Meghan Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun jaunt; shows a variety of children.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

An alphabet book of children's activities. A group of racially mixed children do a different activity for each letter of the alphabet. A letter is represented each page and is accompanied by a full color, full page illustration that combines pastels with bolder, marker drawings of the children. The inside front/back cover shows a map of the children's activities marked by the letter that corresponds to that activity.

Because alphabet books are often judged by their representation of key letter (Q, U, V, X, Y, Z etc) let it be noted that U (umbrella sharers) and V (veggie growers) are well done, while X (xylophone plinkers) is typical.

A great addition to alphabet displays, though maybe not the first book I'd reach for if someone asked me for a notable alphabet book.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Friends move through these pages, engaged in all sorts of activities from A ("arm linkers") to Z ("Zzz snoozers..."), and apparently learning their ABCs along the way. I guess the intended audience would be early readers although the children depicted in the softly-colored illustrations seem to be much older than that and have, hopefully, mastered the letters of the alphabet already. I liked the illustration of the "kitten petters" with those white kitties begin stroked by three children. With a nice link to the story, the endpapers show the path the youngsters follow during their very busy day.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Age: K-2nd grade (not a letters learning book)
Season: Summer

A fun escapade outside by a group of friends. Because there are several guidelines that this does not meet as an alphabet book (letters are too small, exclusion of lower case letter, no alliteration), this book is better suited for children already familiar with their ABCs. Librarians should consider using this as a summertime book, instead of an alphabet book.

[Rosa Cline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a brilliantly new way of teaching a child their ABC's... The illustrations are right out of as if you were sitting in a major city park or walking down a sidewalk. Full of children having fun with one another playing, laughing etc. The written story each line has something to do with that leter of the alphabet "H is for hot dog eaters", "W is for water splashers" etc a new twist on teaching ABC's. My granddaughter received this as one of her Dolly Parton Imagination Library book.

[Meribeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great picture book for early elementary read-alouds. The author has it spot-on with rhythm, rhymes and perfect examples for each letter of the kinds of activities Kindergarten and first grade students love to do! And a perfect short game as follow-up is to ask for a show of hands when you call out a letter -- when they can think of a word beginning with the letter.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a book for learning ABCs, but an interesting book for exploring your neighborhood. A multicultural group of young friends enjoy a fun-filled day at their local park.

The illustrations are bright and cheerful line drawings, simple enough to inspire children to try their hand at drawing their friends.

[Dana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. A pretty decent ABC book with lots of multiracial kids. A couple of issues: The letter represented on that page is always followed by a capitalized word ("L is for Lap sitters") except on the first page ("A is for arm linkers"). There are also two Z entries, although the last one ("Z is zee end") is on the copyright page. I like the diagram on the endpapers, too.

[Dana Comer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great for teaching students their "Abc's" but for my level I'd like to teach it would not be good. I enjoyed that it used words that are like children in an everyday school that you see, different groups of children; the ones who like to read, artistic, buddies, loud ones, and even the clumsy ones.

[raccoon reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Woods is really digging this picture book right now. There's so much going on on each page and he loves getting to ask "Whats That!?" 18million times :D His curiosity is really big right now and this book has helped him learn so many new words. He's still drawn mostly to board books and picture books that can hold his attention are few and far between, so this one gets 4 stars!

[Great Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

This group of young friends is on the go all day, demonstrating the letters of the alphabet in a captivating way. Trace the path they follow from linking arms till they get to yawns and finally snooze. Reviewer 4.

[Brindi Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

i like this book because it introduces new vocabulary to kids in PreK-K. it's a fun way to talk about the letter of the day, etc. also, the endpapers are fabulous, displaying a letter next to an image enabling kids to recall what the letter stood for.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as alphabet books go, this isn't the best. The kids are doing cute activities for each letter. Some are traditional and some are more creative. The alphabet path on the end pages is my favorite part of the book.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 2-year old loves this book. He refers to it as "Friends" and asks for it almost every night. He enjoys the drawings of kids having fun together, and we trace the path on the end pages while he finds the letters and reads them to me. It's a fun book for preschoolers.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really attractive, fun ABC book. I like the "action" take on the alphabet instead of the usual nouns.

[Mindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute alphabet book that highlights outdoor play. Don't miss the map on the endpages.

[Beverly · Rating 3 out of 5]

neighborhood children romp through the alphabet

[Margaret Chind]

--
My edition is a Dolly Parton's Imagination Library special paperback 9780670015375.