Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

Forget A is for Apple. Here letters appear alongside delightfully ambiguous artwork and phrasing, offering up multitudes of interpretations and variations of story. Readers know right away this isn't a traditional ABC book. "THAT'S NOT AN ANSWER" appears on the letter A's page, with a fierce cat hissing at a bird in flight. Cubist, mildly abstract artwork employs blocks of color, assured linework, and expressive brush strokes to deliver succinct, complex images with astonishing force and embedded meanings. Square pages and lavishly thick paper contribute to this immensely pleasing reading experience as well, nudging readers to run fingers across the beguiling matte illustrations as they revel in deciphering them. Phrases, fragments, exclamations, declarations, and angling adjectives accompany each picture, providing context and catalyzing imaginative analysis. N's "A NIGHTMARE," with a lurking animal, partially obscured behind trees, and a worried walker, dressed in red but with a hood looking much like an animal mask, provides ample fodder for decoding—and perhaps for nighttime visions too! Sometimes funny, occasionally eerie, often bizarre, such fantastic images keep readers alert, expectant, and excited. A visionary alphabet book that seeks to introduce not only letters, but nuanced narratives to eager, unfettered young minds. (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Forget A is for Apple. Here letters appear alongside delightfully ambiguous artwork and phrasing, offering up multitudes of interpretations and variations of story. Readers know right away this isn't a traditional ABC book. "THAT'S NOT AN ANSWER" appears on the letter A's page, with a fierce cat hissing at a bird in flight. Cubist, mildly abstract artwork employs blocks of color, assured linework, and expressive brush strokes to deliver succinct, complex images with astonishing force and embedded meanings. Square pages and lavishly thick paper contribute to this immensely pleasing reading experience as well, nudging readers to run fingers across the beguiling matte illustrations as they revel in deciphering them. Phrases, fragments, exclamations, declarations, and angling adjectives accompany each picture, providing context and catalyzing imaginative analysis. N's "A NIGHTMARE," with a lurking animal, partially obscured behind trees, and a worried walker, dressed in red but with a hood looking much like an animal mask, provides ample fodder for decoding—and perhaps for nighttime visions too! Sometimes funny, occasionally eerie, often bizarre, such fantastic images keep readers alert, expectant, and excited. A visionary alphabet book that seeks to introduce not only letters, but nuanced narratives to eager, unfettered young minds. (Picture book. 3-8)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Isol, winner of the 2013 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, delivers a sophisticated alphabet book built around semi-abstract illustrations and short, pensive phrases. Loose, chalky lines and choppy paper-collage elements introduce a cast of human and animal characters in scenarios that feel like miniature stories in themselves. -Come on!- reads one page, as a child stares at a potted planet, willing it to grow; on the K page, a boy awakens in bed to find a bright blue bird standing on his back: -The kiwi again!- And as animals with rough brushstrokes for bodies leap across a spread, the creature at the head of the pack is -uneasy--is he a nervous leader or being chased? With understated poetry and humor, Isol challenges readers to bring their own interpretations to each composition. Ages 2-7. (May)