An Edward Lear Alphabet

by Edward Lear, Vladimir Radunsky (Illustrator)

Pictures and nonsense verses introduce the letters of the alphabet

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Poetry

32 pages, Library Binding

First published April 1, 1983

About the author

Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised.
His principal areas of work as an artist were threefold: as a draughtsman employed to make illustrations of birds and animals; making coloured drawings during his journeys, which he reworked later, sometimes as plates for his travel books; and as a (minor) illustrator of Alfred Tennyson's poems.
As an author, he is known principally for his popular nonsense collections of poems, songs, short stories, botanical drawings, recipes and alphabets. He also composed and published twelve musical settings of Tennyson's poetry.

Reviews

[Anna Frame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Reaction- I like this book because it is entertaining and also has a lot of potential to be used in the classroom. I think kids would also enjoy this book.

Purposes:
Read aloud to K-1st grade students
-enrichment and enjoyment due to the story
-illustrations are engaging and keep attention on the page

Curriculum: read aloud
-this would be helpful when teaching the alphabet because it is based on the alphabet
-this is also a good book to help students with rhyming words

This book has a lot of potential in the classroom and I could use it for multiple lessons.

[Katherine Mauler]

Target Audience: 3-7
This visually stimulating, and sometimes overwhelming book details the alphabet on each page using tongue-twisting rhymes. Overall fun read, this book could definitely be used in the classroom as a way to both practice the alphabet as well as practice decoding difficult or unknown words. Furthermore, the illustrations are so unique from page to page children will enjoy looking at them and perhaps even comparing and contrasting as they go.

[Miss Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edward Lear is a fasinating person: author, artist, and much more. I want to read his biography after I read this picture book and his Book of Nonsense. Loved the illustrations on this picture book by Vladimire Radunsky.

[Tina Hoggatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read aloud for kids learning their alphabet. Delightful illustrations from Radunsky, as ever.

[Jeimy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was underwhelmed by the repetitive, silly rhymes and the colorful vintage illustrations.

[Catherine Fevery · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book discusses the different letters of the alphabet. A, for example, is an apple pie. The author then tells all of the things that rhyme with that word even if the words are made up. D is for doll so the author rhymes doll with dolly wolly polly, etc. The author switches between animals and objects to teach children the alphabet. The book is very creative and the rhyming is great for grabbing children's attention and helping them remember their alphabet. The author goes through the whole alphabet discussing each of the different letters each with their different descriptions. This book would be great for children who are learning their alphabet. I think the author wrote the book for adults to read to children instead of children reading it themselves. The children would not be able to read some of the words, so I think this book should be read out loud to children.

[Emerson and Theodore · Rating 1 out of 5]

The letters are drawn too artistically for a young person trying to learn them. But yet, they are inconsistent in their font. For example, one letter will be swirly and pretty (too much so) and another too block. The drawings were good but that is about it.

[Sephire · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a good book for children learning the alphabet and learning how to read. It is a rhyming alphabet book.

[Inter N.]

A real 'whale' of a tale.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun alphabet book. Each letter is brightly and cleverly illustrated and described in funny rhyme. Example:
O was once a little owl,
Lowly
Prowls
Howly
Lowly
Browny lowly
Little owl.

[Minke Y.]

A real “whale” of a tale.