ABC: Much More Than the Alphabet

ABCs with EXTRAS

	Jane Bayer’s A, My Name is Alice (Puffin, 1992) is an alphabetical picture-book version of the traditional jump rope rhyme, with illustrations by Steven Kellogg. (Add a jump rope and give it a try.) For ages 4-8.
	By Ann Whitford Paul, Eight Hands Round (HarperCollins, 1996) is a charmingly illustrated history of 26 alphabetical quilt patterns. For ages 4-9.
	Laura Rankin’s The Handmade Alphabet (Puffin, 1996) teaches American Sign Language with clever letter-related visual cues. For each letter, a hand demonstrates the finger positions of the ASL alphabet, along with an alphabetical extra: the G hand, for example, wears a glove; I points to an Icicle; the T hand sports three thimbles; the V holds a paper valentine. For ages 6 and up.
	Chris L. Demarest’s Alpha Bravo Charlie (Margaret K. McElderry, 2005) is a picture-book introduction to the military or International Communications Alphabet (ICA), along with a chart of the U.S. Navy’s alphabetical signal flags. For ages 6-9.
	See Phonetic Alphabet Tables for more phonetic alphabets, along with a tool for inventing some of your own.
	Learn more about the U.S. Navy’s alphabetical signal flags. (Make a set!)
	Tobi Tobias’s A World of Words (Lothrop Lee & Shepard, 1998) is a beautiful illustrated alphabet of quotations by such authors as Emily Dickinson, e.e. cummings, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Lewis Carroll. (Interested older kids might enjoy making alphabetic quotation books of their own.) For all ages.

ALPHABETICAL POETRY

	Katrina Vandenberg’s The Alphabet Not Unlike the World (Milkweed Editions, 2012) is a collection of poems named for the Phoenician letters of the alphabet. A compelling collection for teenagers and adults.
	Edward Lear’s Alphabet Poem runs from “A tumbled down and hurt his arm” to “Z said, ‘Here is a box of Zinc!’” Also see Lear’s Nonsense Alphabet, which cleverly incorporates both upper- and lower-case letters.
	Gennady Spirin’s A, Apple Pie (Philomel, 2005) is an enchantingly illustrated picture-book version of the traditional alphabet rhyme beginning “A was an Apple Pie/B bit it/C cut it…” For all ages.
	By Lee Bennett Hopkins, Alphathoughts (Wordsong, 2003) is an illusrated collection of 26 poems, each representing a letter of the alphabet. B is for Books, J for Jelly, L for Library, P for Pencil. For ages 6-8.
	Richard Wilbur’s picture book The Disappearing Alphabet (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001) demonstrates in clever rhymes what would happen if each letter of the alphabet should vanish: “What if the letter S were missing?/Cobras would have no way of hissing/And all their kin would have to take/The name of ERPENT or of NAKE.” Terrific for all ages.
	April Bubbles Chocolate: An ABC of Poetry, compiled by Lee Bennett Hopkins (Simon & Schuster, 1994), is a collection of 26 short alphabetical poems ranging from Eve Merriam’s “April” to Carl Sandburg’s “Bubbles,” Karla Kushkin’s “Moon,” and Richard Brautigan’s “Xerox Candy Bar.” For ages 3-8.
	Jeanne Steig’s Alpha Beta Chowder (HarperTrophy, 1994) is a collection of hysterical alliterative alphabet rhymes. (T, for example, features Tactless Toby who teases Tina with tadpoles in her tapioca.) For ages 7 and up.
	Paul Janeczko’s Poetry from A to Z (Simon & Schuster, 1994) is a marvelous guide for young poets with projects, examples, and helpful hints for poetic genres listed alphabetically. Try, for example, Acrostics, Clerihews, How-to Poems and Haikus, Memory Poems, and Shape Poems. Highly recommended for ages 9-12.

PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES

	Sara Midda’s How to Build an A (Artisan, 2008) is a simple alphabet book (A for Apple, B for Boy) that comes with eleven plastic puzzle pieces with which kids can build all the upper- and lower-case letters of the alphabet. For ages 2-5.
	Judy Press’s Alphabet Art (Williamson Publishing, 1997) is a collection of poems, songs, projects, games, and fingerplays for teaching the letters of the alphabet. For example, kids make upper- and lower-case Bs from bubblewrap (templates can be traced from the book), assemble a paper Butterfly, and read Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar (which sounds like a C book, but there’s a gorgeous and enormous butterfly on the last page).For ages 2-6.
	Make your own alphabet book! For a simple version, all you need are construction paper, glue, and a lot of old magazines. Or print some cool images from the internet!
	For older students, ABC Books Aren’t for Babies! has creative alphabet book activities for grades K-12. Included is an A to Z list of suggestions: students can make, for example, an Ancient Civilizations Alphabet Book, a Biology Alphabet Book, a Mathematics Alphabet Book, or a Technology Alphabet Book.
	Decorate with the alphabet! At Alphabet Around the Room, find instructions for making a cool wrap-around alphabet and word display.
	From No Time for Flash Cards, 25 Alphabet Activities for Kids include making a magnetic alphabet garden, a letter pizza, a recycled alphabet, and a set of alphabet peg dolls.
	From Peaceable Kingdom, play Alphabet Bingo!
	Check out this great Lego Spaceship Alphabet. (Build one of your own?)