Horn Book

"Dd is for dolphin. / Ee is for emu. / Ff is for fox and / for fish and ferret too." Taken alone, the stale, clunky rhyming text deserves low marks. The illustrations, however, belong at the head of the class: each page or spread features a jaunty patterned border framing animals painted in bold strokes in revelatory color combinations.

Kirkus Reviews

Alphabet books are a dime a dozen, and this one might not be worth your dime. Bauer's acrylic paintings are bright, almost finger-painted close-ups of happy, open-faced animals. Some share their letters with other animals, some with veggies beginning with the same letter. Still others, like the llamas and the lions, perform actions to suit their letters, like "licking." Pretty pictures cannot save this alpha-bestiary, though; Blackstone's text is the fly in the ointment. The meter is off-kilter in places, and the rhymes are at times not even approximate. No matter your accent or speech difficulty, "wolf" does not rhyme with "move." "U" is for umbrella bird and "X" for xoona moth if you're curious. Save your alphabet pennies for another day. (Picture book. 2-6)

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

Blackstone's (the Cleo the Cat series) minimal, workmanlike text ("Cc is for camel. Chase us if you dare!") takes a backseat to newcomer Bauer's vibrant and exuberantly brush-stroked acrylics. The paintings have a naïf quality, with their thickly applied paints, often underpainted, with perhaps the tip of the brush handle used to strip away some of the outer layer, adding dimension and texture. Each spread links the letter to its corresponding animal with some fanciful interaction: a turquoise mommy and baby emu with golden plumage contemplate an egg tucked inside the crook of a lowercase <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">e; a fluffy white little llama and honey-hued lion cub lick a candylike letter <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">l as their parents look on, beaming. There are no real surprises or creative alphabet pairings here, and unlike many contemporary animal-based primers, this one contains no afterword of "fun facts" on its subjects. Rather, the appeal of this book is strictly aesthetic: the saturated, fluorescent acrylics and genially rudimentary shapes brim with good cheer, while tacitly saluting readers' own artistic instincts. All ages. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Sept.)

School Library Journal

PreS-Parent-and-baby pairs from alligators to zebras playfully introduce the alphabet with a simple rhyme and snappy illustrations. Children will be delighted by the vivid colors and friendly animals, while adults will welcome the inclusion of both capital and lowercase forms to aid in letter recognition. One line of large text, which looks as if it had been printed by hand, fits neatly in a color block at the bottom of the page. "Aa is for alligator./Bb is for bear./Cc is for camel./Chase us if you dare!" Brilliant, fluid acrylics enliven the cheery verse. Large flat areas are dribbled with paint and accented with contrasting colors that create texture in the sloths' fur and the yaks' hair. An owl spreads its wings to expose a beautiful weblike design. Young eyes will eagerly spot other simple details, such as a small panda peeking through the "P." Patterned borders frame each page and are then repeated in the striped endpapers. The book concludes with two spreads of small blocks that show all the animals and letters. This is one of the most attractive new alphabet books. The simplicity of the text and art proves once again that less is more.-Carolyn Janssen, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.