Alfie's ABC

Alfie

by Shirley Hughes

Children and adults alike love Aflie, and his new alphabet book is a vividly illustrated delight--filled with fun and family, as well as Alfie's irrepressible four-year-old antics.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1997

About the author

Shirley Hughes is the illustrator of more than two hundred children’s books and has won many prestigious awards, including the Kate Greenaway Medal twice. She is the author-illustrator of DON'T WANT TO GO! and OLLY AND ME 1 2 3. She died at her home in London on the 25th of February, 2022.

Reviews

[Robb Rugeroni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hughes, Shriley. Alfie's ABC (Hardcover) 1997.
Alfie, and his little sister, Annie Rose, take pre-readers through the ABCs by way of joyful illustrations and single-sentence descriptions. Each page is identified with its letter in the top corner, a colorful drawing of Alfie in action and the description towards the bottom, leaving readers with plenty of visual cues to point out and poems to remember. Hardback with sturdy pages.

[Jenna Mills · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sweet but uninspiring

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alfie's ABC by Shirley Hughes features previous Alfie- related illustrations for each letter of the alphabet. Each page has the letter in lower and upper case.

Hughes' charming illustrations feature Alfie and his friends and family. A picture from previous Alfie or Annie Rose books illustrates each letter. My favorite images are bedtime, door, friends, jacket, neighbors, seaside, and teddies.

This book will most appeal to readers of the Alfie books and fans of Hughes' illustrations. NOTE: W is for water features Annie Rose and Alfie playing together in a shallow pool or water-filled sandbox completely naked. (It's tasteful, but they are unclothed). I would have liked having a list of the books from which the illustrations were taken.

For ages 3.5 to 5, alphabet, siblings, family, and fans of Alfie, Annie Rose and Shirley Hughes.

[Stephanie Jeanneret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Alphabet book
Grades: pre k-2

This book is about Alphie which starts with A. There is something that Alphie relates to for each of the the letters. This is a very good book to get students thinking about letters.
Activities: Have the students choose a letter and write a sentence about something that realtes to them using their letter in one of their words, then have the students draw a picture.

Activity:
The studetns could come up with their own words to create the alphabet.
Have the studetns draw a picture of their favorite page in the book.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every letter is illustrated with a scene from the story books. A is for Alfie and his little sister Annie Rose. So this book will appeal to readers of this series. Additionally, the words illustrated are not just nouns. D is for drawing, O is for open, R is for reading. Each page has the letter in both upper and lower case. For X, this is one of the few times where xylophone fits in, as a child’s toy.

[Randie D. Camp, M.S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm guessing that the book would make more sense if I read other Alfie books prior to picking this up on impulse. I am a sucker for ABC books.

Each letter shares something about Alfie. Very cute book.

I want to make an ABC book about my son one of these days :-).

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

classic art style of Hughes using Alfie to share words from the alphabet. girls enjoyed it.

[Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not in love with the pictures and my 18 month daughter isn't asking for me to reread it to her.

[Finny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mommy says: Finny would not even let me read the first page of this book. ABC books are now too babyish for him, at age 6.

[Shannon Ginley · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Alfie’s ABC” by Shirley Hughes; published by Lothrop, Lee, Shepard Books; New York; copyright 1998
1. Awards this book received: This book has not received any awards.
2. Appropriate grade level(s): This book is appropriate for children in preschool to first grade.
3. Summary: This book is about a little boy named Alfie and his little sister Annie Rose. They explain objects, actions, or people in their lives that they come in contact with often while going through the alphabet. Alfie goes through the alphabet, starting with A, giving a letter and something that corresponds with it, such as B for bedtime, E for elephant (a stuffed animal he sleeps with at night), G for Grandma (who dances and sings), L for lamb (Annie’s favorite toy), and M for moon.
4. Review: This book is a cute way for young children to understand that, just like Alfie, they come into contact with items that start with a letter represented in the alphabet. I like how each page in the book has each alphabet letter, both upper and lower case, at the top in colored print to emphasize which letter each page is focusing on. Additionally, I love the engaging illustrations of Alfie, Annie, and their words that they are describing and explaining.
5. Uses in the classroom:
- This book can help children with their oral language development by facilitating the connection between letters and the sounds that each make.
- Basic skills of alphabet recognition and recall can be tied into a lesson when reading this book.
- This book can assist students in recognizing that each letter in the alphabet has both a capital and lowercase letter linked to it.