I Spy A to Z: A Book of Picture Riddles

I Spy

by Jean Marzollo

From the bestselling series by Jean Marzollo and Walter Wick, here's a fun way for children to learn the ABC's. Includes foil on the cover!

Easy-to-read riddles by Jean Marzollo are paired with 46 object-filled photographs by Walter Wick to create the most engaging alphabet book ever! Young readers can use the simple picture clues to recognize the letter and letter sound featured on each page.

There are more than 30 million I Spy books in print!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Nonfiction

56 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2009

About the author

Jean Marzollo was an American children's author and illustrator best known for the I Spy series, a best-selling and award-winning collection written entirely in rhythm and rhyme and illustrated by Walter Wick. Over her career, she wrote more than 100 books for children, parents, and educators, including Help Me Learn Numbers 0-20, The Little Plant Doctor, and Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King. Born and raised in Connecticut, she graduated from the University of Connecticut and earned a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She taught high school English and later worked in educational publishing, serving for 20 years as editor of Scholastic’s Let’s Find Out Magazine. Later in life, she began illustrating her own books.

Reviews

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Hands down the absolute worst I Spy book ever written. All the photos were reused from other books, which is not necessarily bad, but the rhymes were terrible. The only good thing about this book is that it made me realize with certainty that Walter Wick is by far the better half of I Spy. The only way I had any fun with this I Spy was by ignoring the rhymes and looking for things in the pictures with a friend. Zero stars."

[Lauren C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that this one has clues along with the rhyme so my pre-reader can do this book more independently.

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spy . . . .
Can you find the objects in each of the pictures?

=========

This I Spy book follows the pattern established by other books in this series.

The rhyming riddle on each page gives young readers a “hint” by picturing the item within the riddle; still, there are some items that may require a bit of hunting. The oversized book allows for a generous size for each picture; the repetition [“I spy a . . . .”] and rhyming clues are appropriate for the youngest readers while the phonics clues in the riddles [with certain letters written in red print so they stand out] indicate letters that sound the same and help the older reader develop strong pre-reading skills.

Highly recommended.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one still has the pictures of the objects by themselves to help kids find the objects in the big picture like the little board books, but is just a bit too much/hard for Stella right now (26 months)

[Danielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't really care for this one since it was just bits and pieces of the others. Not very original.

[J.B. Mathias · Rating 1 out of 5]

These ones were way too easy, they put pictures of the answers in the question and most of them are obvious. I read these books as a kid and they were never this easy I guess it's good for even younger kids but a challenge is part of the fun I finished most pages within 10 seconds.

[Kayla Zabcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

this one is more about teaching kids to read than the actual I-Spy business; doesn't build enchanting scenes to get lost in, but rather gives quick things to find so you can turn the page

[PottWab Regional Library]

SM

[Asho · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fun. I can't vouch for the claim that it helps children learn to read since my child is only 2 and doesn't even recognize letters yet. However, even though he is on the young side for this book, he really enjoys it. He likes listening to the rhyme, and loves looking at each picture and pointing out favorite objects. He is even able to find some of the hidden objects, although many of them are too challenging for him to find at this point. Still, I think this book will grow with him for quite a while.

[ColumbusReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book of little riddles that I check out often from the library and read to my little 2 year dumpling. He loves it as well, as I have him point out different figures on the page. I spy a Zebra....I Spy a Train Car.... I Spy an Apple. He gets super excited spotting the colorful figures on the page and getting them right. Your loved one will likely enjoy it as well.

[s · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 3 year old loved this book. I liked that it had pictures showing what the hidden item is, so he was able to go through the book on his own.

[FireBeast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why Is It Putting In SCCCARRY Things In These Books!