Alphabets are Amazing Animals

by Anushka Ravishankar, Christiane Pieper (Illustrator)

Baby Buffaloes Blow Big Blue Bubbles and Kind Kiwis Kiss Kangaroos, in this zany alphabet reader whose happy art brings these curious scenes to life. Easily one of the best in the genre, this book takes the young reader through sounds, words and sentences and demonstrates how words work. As alphabets form words, and alliterative words get together into sentences, strange tales begin to emerge on every page.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books

56 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Anushka Ravishankar, a mathematics graduate, has made a name for herself internationally as an Indian children’s writer, with over 10 books of verse, fiction and non-fiction. Her special talent is in the area of nonsense verse, where she brilliantly adapts this difficult genre to Indian English usage, without a false note. Anushka Ravishankar can be said to have pioneered the Indian English nonsense verse form and brought it to international attention. She recently returned from a UK tour with Children’s Laureate, Michael Rosen, at the Children’s Bookshow.

from http://www.tarabooks.com/about/authors/

Reviews

[Lisa Vegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is no story here, but this is a fun book for preschoolers through early school aged kids. It’s fun for kids to read aloud and for the older kids to read it on their own.

This is both an alphabet and vocabulary book. It uses wonderful alliteration in a sentence for each letter, and one or more animals are mentioned, and are shown in the illustrations. And there was no cheating on the X.

The illustrations are big & bold & vividly colored. Each page is black and white and also one color: blue then green then red then back to blue again. I wish they’d done the whole rainbow, but there are orange and red pictures on the inside front and back covers. The expressions on some of the animals’ faces are a hoot.

3 ½ stars and recommended for kids who love animals and those looking for a good alphabet/vocabulary/language book

[Bobby · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. An excellent book that combines alliteration with silly images to teach kids vocabulary and sentence formation. For example, "Jolly Jaguars Juggle Jam Jars" and "Neat Newts Need Nappies." A great addition to any kid's library.

[Indy · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no end to the strange things animals get up to, in this quirkily alliterative alphabet book. The text plays with words: their sounds, rhythms, and meanings, combining into sentences that are syntactically precise, yet managing to conjure up the kind of absurd goings-on guaranteed to tickle every child's imagination. Joyful art brings these curious and happy scenes to life - every page in the book is a story in itself.

It is definitely a superb picture book for young children to learn about animals alphabetically, as well as verbs and adjectives. The pictures are relevant, colloquial and enjoyable to read with.

[Aruna Kumar Gadepalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for Young reader, with illustrations of animals. Words with rhyming style.