The two younger boys are at different stages of letter recognition (and early reading), so we’ve been exposing them to a lot of letters at home. I thought it might be fun to share our favorite alphabet books, which go beyond the old “a is for apple,” with lovely illustrations, clever plays on words, and great alliteration.
Bruno Munari’s artwork has been exhibited in museums in Tokyo, Paris, Munich, Holland, Brazil, and the United States. He received many awards for his illustrations before passing away in 1998. Here, he presents beautiful color alongside “a fly… a flower… a feather… and a fish… [and] more flies.”
A vertical violet violin
The beauty of this one is in its simplicity.
Take Away the A, by Michael Escoffier and Kris Di Giacomo
I checked out this book with Oliver in mind. He is a rather bashful reader, refusing any sort of attention around a parent listening to him read aloud (and possibly make mistakes, I suspect). But this book, in its creativity, has opened him up just the slightest bit. The premise is to subtract a single letter from a word to watch it transform (with accompanying pictures) into an entirely different word. Here: “Without the W, the WITCH has an ITCH.”
Without the L, PLANTS wear PANTS.
It’s clever and funny enough to get Oliver to forget about impressing anyone. I’ve caught him reading this on the couch out loud (whispering) more than once.
Once Upon an Alphabet: Short Stories for all the Letters, by Oliver Jeffers
This one is my personal favorite, as I can always count on a laugh-out-loud moment with at least one of the boys every time we read it. In true Jeffers form, each story is quirky, sometimes dark, sometimes telling a lesson. All clever, and accompanied by his illustrations, just an entirely great book.
Robots don’t like rain clouds | So they steal them from the sky | From everywhere and anywhere | That’s why it’s been so dry | I’m sure you have been wondering | What’s with all this dust?
And last but not least…
Superhero ABC, by Bob McLeod
This one is Milo and Oliver’s favorite, as it is jam packed with funny alliteration. On each page (or two), a made-up superhero represents each letter of the alphabet. 
Multiplying Mike becomes Many More Men in Moments | He wears a Mask! | He has Mighty Muscles! | His Mom Makes them all Mind their Manners! 
I’ll let you guess who the “Yellow Yeller” is… ha ha!
I’m sure there are plenty other great alphabet books out there… feel free to add yours in the comments section! Happy Reading!
I still remember my mom reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to brother and me – definitely a personal favorite!
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is probably my all time favorite. But I love Munari’s – what a classic. I’ve displayed it for years on the mantel in Ella’s room – it’s so gorgeous.
I love everything by Oliver Jeffers, and Once Upon an Alphabet is so good. Not an alphabet book – but his latest collaboration – Imaginary Fred – is on the shelves, and is so wonderful. It’s on our book fair list.
I flipped through another new alphabet book at Left Bank last week, I’m not having much luck searching for it now, but every page read like poetry and had three words that began with A-B-C. It was really beautiful.
My youngest is a reluctant reader around us too (for likely the same reasons as Oliver), but she’s coming around. She’s really, really into atlases and chapter books – things with a ton of words, and she searches around the pages like a word find, looking for something familiar. In the car I’ll tell her about a place I’ve been, then she flips to find the page with the correct state on it, then I describe the general area where the city might be, or give her a nearby big city. She scans all those words looking for letter cues, and then we can talk through north-south (or up-down) until she finds it. She’s loving this game and I’m noticing how much less stressed she is about getting the whole word correct. Yesterday she found Sanibel Island by finding Naples, then Ft. Myers, then finding that tiny island off the coast.
I kind of think she gets a little bored with the books at her reading “level”, so I think she’s more energized with books at higher levels – it’s like a treasure hunt for her right now, but she seems to enjoy that challenge at her own pace. The atlas idea takes the pressure off of getting an entire sentence correct (and understanding the story) – she’s really looking for letter cues which is a great early reading skill.
The letter switch book is brilliant. I love Di Giacomo’s illustration work, we’ll have to check that out. We love My Dad is Big and Strong, But…