Alphabetabum

Description

An ALPHABET book? An ALBUM of old photos? We named it ALPHABETABUM. Here celebrated artists and authors Vladimir Radunsky and Chris Raschka put a delightful new old-fashioned spin on the alphabet book. Radunsky has selected portraits of children from his spectacular collection of antique black and-white photographs. Raschka has given the children names and written deliciously teasing rhymes about them. The result is ALPHABETABUM, a book of letters and pictures to which readers will happily return again and again both to look and to learn.

VLADIMIR RADUNSKY has published more than thirty books for children and received numerous awards, including several New York Times Best Illustrated Book Awards and Bologna's Critici in Erba. Some of his books have appeared on the New York Times best-seller list. CHRIS RASCHKA has written and/or illustrated more than sixty books for children, including Yo! Yes?, Charlie Parker Played Be Bop, Mysterious Thelonious, Sluggy Slug, Five for a Little One, A Poke in the I, and The Hello, Goodbye Window, and has received a Caldecott Honor, two Caldecott Awards, the Ezra Jack Keats Award, and five New York Times Best Illustrated Book Awards.

This ingenious way to help little ones learn their ABCs uses the hook of vintage photos collected over decades from flea markets around the world. Little Lucian Leroy, a tiny fellow in a tall tophat and tails, likes licorice and lollipops. Baby Beulah Bridget balances a big bow on the top of her noggin. Even kids who don't understand all the words and concepts will enjoy hearing the alliteration spoken aloud and marvel at the get-ups from days of yore. Working Mother Raschka and Radunsky have collaborated to create an ingenious alphabet book with a hook: it's illustrated with antique photos of children from around the world...The photos, which come from Radunsky's private collection, are wonderfully evocative, inviting viewers to imagine the real lives of those depicted. The book is, thus, not only an opportunity to learn one's ABCs but also to indulge in an exercise in imagination. No small feat! -- Booklist