A Is for Angry: An Animal and Adjective Alphabet

by Sandra Boynton

"Because you can't stand another apple, ball, or cup," Sandra Boynton presents an alphabet book of animals and adjectives. An Angry Animal Assortment Along an Arrow starts off the whimsy as a Big Bashful Bear, a Cute Clean Cat, a Tangled Turkey, a Wide Walrus, a Yellow Yak, and others in between romp through the letters A-Z. In classic Boynton style, the irresistible animal characters climb the tall letters, perch on the squat ones, hang from the curves of the round ones. Selection of the Children's Book-of-the-Month Club. Suitable for ages 3-5.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Emotion, Nonfiction, School, Juvenile

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 9, 1987

About the author

Sandra Keith Boynton is an American humorist, songwriter, director, music producer, children's author, and illustrator. Boynton has written and illustrated over eighty-five books for children and seven general audience books, as well as over four thousand greeting cards, and seven music albums. She has also designed calendars, wallpaper, bedding, stationery, paper goods, clothing, jewelry, and plush toys for various companies.

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every day I inventory and review one book for my Pooh Project, but for quite a while I have also just inventoried one book from my home library. Today though I hit the Sandra Boynton shelf, and it seems a shame to not read such cute little books when they're in my hand. And reading doesn't count if there's no review, right? So welcome to the Sandra Boynton not-a-project that's apparently gonna happen anyway.

I love this alphabet book. It looks so simple and spare, as each page has an animal for the letter and an emotion or other adjective, but it is so easy to discuss with a little one or spin tales about what the animals are doing. If two letters share a spread, there is often a little cross-over or contrast linking the two that adds to the fun. And the animals are just adorable. And the turkey trap on T makes me laugh every time.

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alphabetically aligned adjectives administered Boynton-style.





Alright, alright, alright!

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

"X isn't for anything."

What!?

[Deidra Chamberlain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Especially love the angry animals who were not included

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

How could I pass up a Boynton ABC book?! This was great. Classic Boyton pictures (which I love). And you could go through this either with adjectives and animals together, or adjectives first and then animals. I suppose that would depend on the curiosity and attention-span of the child in the lap-read. It might be difficult in a storytime because pointing out everything would take away the flow and (I think) get distracting. But not pointing out would have them missing out on some things. Still, it's so fun, it could be worth a try in a preschool group.

Best part: X. Ha ha ha!!!

2/11/15 Boynton humor can sometimes be over the heads of the preschoolers. It was in this case for the majority of my group. I tried this for my Literacy Moment. WAY too long for that. Way too long for a book as well. They loved calling out the animals. And I had them acting out the adjectives. It worked quite well. It's just that the new kids I had were way too wiggly and dominant and it rather scared my regulars who are a bit younger and much quieter. At least one mom asked to take the book home so that her son could get the full enjoyment of it on his own.

[Suzanne Lorraine Kunz Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute pictures, a fun book to help children learn emotions and personalities types like bashful, zany etc.

[Jessica Blonder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A is for angry: an animal and adjective alphabet.
By Sandra Boynton
No awards
grades : pre K- 3
Summary: A classic “A is for apple book” with a lot of potential in the classroom. The author goes through the alphabet with both animals and adjectives.
Review: I like how flexible this book is. It can be a regular phonics book for the younger grades and an intro to the parts of grammar for the upper levels.The artwork seems very familiar though.
Activities in the classroom:
Have the children express each adjective as you read it a second time (Pre-k and K)
Take the adjectives from the book and put them in a word bank with other random words and have the students pick out the adjectives. (Grades 2-3)
Pick out the more difficult adjectives and have the students match them to flash card of pictures of the adjective

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subtitle of this pretty much says it all. It is a picture book featuring an animal and adjective for each letter of the alphabet.

I thought from the main title this was going to be more about emotions, but the adjectives are quite varied from emotions to personality characteristics to descriptions of appearance. This is the first alphabet book I've come across that just kinda gives up on X, it says "X is for nothing" and has no animal or adjective. In a way, it is one of the most honest alphabet books out there. I can see kids really liking the illustrations of animals which are often in silly poses. An alphabet book for kids who love animals and an option for language arts classes learning about adjectives.

[P.S. Evidently this is a revised edition of the 80s book of the same name. The copyright page says that Boynton redrew the illustrations for this edition.]

[Grace Bolin · Rating 5 out of 5]

'A is for Angry an animal and adjective alphabet' is appropriate for preschool age children to about 2nd grade. This is an alphabet book that focuses on one letter per page. For each letter an adjective and at least one animal that starts with the letter is listed and illustrated. This is a great book because it names various animals, both common and rare, as well as lists an adjective that begins with each letter. This is a great way for students to learn more adjectives to broaden their vocabularies. This book could be used to learn new words that the students could be assigned to incorporate into their writing.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would be a great book to read out loud to a larger group of children. The text in this book is fun and engaging, “O is for OUTRAGED” (p. 24). There are words most young children might not know so it is a great opportunity to help them increase their vocabulary such as, “R is for ROTUND” (p.27). The illustrations are simple and large, keeping the readers focus on the alphabet letters. The ending is a surprise that young children would enjoy, as the story continues a few pages past the letter Z.

[Kate M. Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack borrowed this book from the Oxford Public Library as part of our quest to read all the Sandra Boynton books.

He hasn't been interested in new books this week, but once he saw the alphabet and animals, he decided he would read this one. He "read" it to himself over and over, flipping through the pages and stopping to point out the letters and animals. Eventually, he let me narrate the pages, and over several reads, we made it through all the pages. I especially liked the treatment of the letter Z, how it got zebra, zoo, and zzzzzzs.

[Sereen Hudaib · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a good alphabet book, and different from the usual A is for Apple and B is for ball, A is for Angry is a book with different adjectives for each letter. This book is great book to use for expanding children's vocabulary for young children. The letters are colorful and big. The book has an animal with each letter along with the adjective. Finally, it's a good book to use for integrating alphabets in animals theme.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

An alphabet book that depicts animals with a corresponding adjective; for example, cute clean cat. Some of the words may best be appreciated by older readers, like yellow yak, but Boynton's lively illustrations should hold their attention. This would also be a useful picture book to use with a unit on adjectives.

[Gabriela Francisco · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's by Sandra Boynton! An automatic buy for any teacher in early childhood education.

Am amused that she wasn't able to think of any animal nor adjective for X. Tee hee. :) So she put "X is for nothing at all." Too true.

I appreciate how she uses "grown-up" adjectives like rotund and zany, and unfamiliar nouns as well (thanks to this book I know now what an unau is!).

[Dan Hyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A refreshing change from a lot of the other A-Z alphabet books. Read when my daughters were 3.5 years old. Sabrina likes going every page each time through, and enjoys how the animals interact on the page..

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read plenty of alphabet books but trust Sandra Boynton to make one with unexpected wit and charm. Animal personification is her magic talent.

I read this aloud to my oldest daughter who may be past simple stories, in theory, but she loved this as much as I did.

[Micah Tapia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like how the author shows different creatures that go with the letter, and some of them have emotion, and some of them go with a cool design. The book helps with the ABCs and gives you cool pictures to help you remember them.

[Paola Nunez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is helpful to use when teaching the alphabet. I really like this book because it has adjectives, and it is DAP for children in Pre-K. I really like how this book also talks about emotions, which helps with their social-emotional development.

[Ashley Zuniga · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations in the book are simple and clear. The vocabulary is simple for pre-k to read along. This will be useful when teaching children about the alphabet. It's a little long for children to stay enagaged.

[Cathy Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Age Range: 3 - 8 years
Grade Level: Preschool - Kindergarten

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It made me laugh that there is no "x" word. So honest.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the fact that this book uses both adjectives and nouns in the alphabet game, and makes the game more descriptive and fun.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A big, bashful bear, a cute, clean cat, and other alliteratively described animals introduce the letters of the alphabet.

Adorable illustrations.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun book full of alliteration. My toddler liked it too.

I would say good for ages 1-7.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sandra Boynton and her illustrations are some of my most favorite things on the planet. Loved this book!

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

We love Sandra Boynton and this is a good book with cute pictures.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. I especially loved the X page.

[Michelle Glenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book on promoting alphabet knowledge. Book introduces a variety of adjectives, graphics aren't the best, but still child friendly.

[Mayra Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to read to children who are learning their alphabet. I would read this to my students who are 3 and up. It's a very simple book. This book would be a great shelve book as well.

[Yaricsa Lizama · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well-illustrated book with cute characters. I recommend this book to introduce children to the alphabet and animals. I would read this book to children ages 4 and under.