A Book of Letter Beauty

I have found a modern work of art, and it can be found in the children's section of your local library. (Or hopefully it will be soon.) It is titled Alphabeasties: And Other Amazing Types

I really wanted to copy and paste a picture of the cover, but I was unable to do so through Amazon. It is a must own though! I'm planning on purchasing this book for myself...and my kids.

Each page is pleasant to the eyes. The colors used are calming. The use of letters to form various animals is clever and enchanting. One of my favorite pages is the O for octopus. The waves fold out to reveal the tentacles and legs of this underwater beast. What forms the animal? O's of course. Each animal is made out of the letter it represents.

Then on each page are various forms/types of each letter. Ever found it hard to explain why and A looks like an A even when it is written like a? This book helps explore that with your children. On the A page there was a gigantic alligator, but also an accordion made entirely out of giant A's.

On the H page was a boy who's crew cut was a straight line of boxed H's.

See, you know you want to check it out!



My other find is Truckery Rhymes. It is a book meant to be sung. I sit down and sing the entire thing to my boys. Each page is another poem to a familiar tune like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Here is one you might enjoy:

Rock-a-bye mixer at the site top.
When the wind blows, the building will rock.
When the beam breaks, the mixer will fall.
And down will come Melvin---bricks, beams, and all.