With punchy, stylish artwork and playful text, this abecedary wryly introduces basketball greats. Sidestepping the usual format, Littlejohn picks thematic alphabet entries, such as nicknames, characteristics, or terms, rather than player names. "K is for King," for instance, is followed by "Pass, board, score or defend. They call him the King because LeBron can do it all." Some selections are more successful than others is for Little" features Mugsy Bogues, a famously short player ile others will require more explanation, like "C is for Cooking: If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen e Beard is cooking." Because the text is fairly opaque and there's no back matter with clarifying facts about the players, kids will likely need a lot of assistance and explanations to understand each spread, and it's disappointing that there's not a single woman featured. Still, the dynamic, eye-catching artwork is appealing, and the breathless enthusiasm of the text is pretty infectious. For little ones with die-hard NBA-fanatic adults in their lives, this could be a lot of fun.

This basketball-themed alphabet book features concepts and famed players from the past and today. Shipley illustrates in a bold graphic style, integrating visual nods to the players- monikers: Julius Erving, or -Dr. J,- dunks a basketball while wearing a laboratory coat (-D is for Doctor- reads the text). Alliterative lines for Shaquille O-Neil read: -H is for huge human hurting hoops.- Other featured athletes include Wilt Chamberlain, Dennis Rodman, and Bill Walton. Though not all readers will recognize the significance of the book-s allusions or know the players by their nicknames alone (the text doesn-t include a full name for each), basketball fans will celebrate this lively who-s who of players. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)