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Copyright 2006 Julie Shepherd Knapp
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Copyright 2006 Julie Shepherd Knapp.  All rights reserved.
about the book
The Homeschool Diner's Guide to
Learning to Read
All time Favorites -- ABC Books

by Julie Shepherd Knapp, copyright 2006

Looking to add some spice to your ABC's?  Check out these truly
memorable ones!


Looking for "that something special" in an ABC book?  See if you can find
some of these "not so ordinary" ABC books to jumpstart your storytime.  
Many of these are out of print, but check with your library and keep a look-
out for them on eBay and in your local garage sales and thrift stores!  

We're long past the ABC books at our house -- let me know about any of
your more recent favorites that deserve a place on our list :-)

Nerdy Baby ABCs -- available in posters and as flash cards (check out
their other fun geeky products for youngsters , too ;-)

3-D ABC: A Sculptural Alphabet by Bob Raczka, 2006, ISBN: 0761394567.
Learn about sculpture as you learn your letters.

Alphabet Rescue by Audrey Wood, 2006, ISBN: 0439853168.
In this ABC book the letters are personified... the lower-case letters want to
be firefighters, but when upper-case Chief F says they’re too small... they
create their own fire brigade anyway... and, of course, they end up saving
the day. Good story line, clever use of letters, vibrant digital illustrations.

Alphabet Explosion: Search and Count from Alien to Zebra  by John
Nickle, 2006, ISBN: 978-0-375-93598-5.   Exciting airbrush and digitial
illustrations and as many as 37 items on each letter page

A is for Angry by Sandra Boynton -- in an refreshing twist, each letter is
represented by an adjective, instead on a noun!  Kids will have fun acting
out the words for each letter.  Here is a lesson plan for getting kids to use
more adjectives that includes this book, and others --
Delicious, Tasty,
Yummy: Enriching Writing with Adjectives and Synonyms

Animal Alphabet by Alex Lluch, 2005, ISBN: 1-887169-49-0.
Each left-hand page shows a single letter and a fun, brightly-colored
animal...  the opposite page shows the tail end of the next animal... leading
children to guess which animal will be seen with the next letter.

Winnie the Pooh ABCs: Discovering Letters and Words -- a sweet
DVD with Pooh and the gang, Disney Learning Adventures, 2004

My Beastie Book of ABC: Rhymes and Woodcuts by David Frampton,
Harper-Collins, 2002.  Bold woodcuts in bright colors spotlight animals with
humorous rhymes, such as: "A is for alligator. Her teeth are quite awesome.
Yours will be too, if you just brush and floss 'em." One letter per page, with  
an animal and a rhyme.

"
The Cowboy ABC" by Chris Demarest, 1999  ISBN: 0-7894-2509-2.
Lovely watercolor illustrations of southwestern scenery, animals, and
cowboy life Includes F for farrier, J for jinglebobs, and X is the mark cowboys
make to get paid.

"The Sweet and Sour Animal Book" an ABC book by Langston Hughes,
1997, ISBN13: 978-0-19-512030-1.  Illustrated with amazing artwork by
students of the Harlem School of Arts, the first publishing for 26 "short and
wonderfully clever poems" by Langston Hughes

"
Animals A to ZOO" by Julie Lee and Jackie Northland, illustrated by
Kristine Kirkeby, 1995,  ISBN: 0-9649808-0  published by the Minnesota
Zoo. Fun colored-pencil drawings of smiling and laughing animals doing
crazy things, such as iguanas ice fishing for "I" and all the animals catching
"Z's" at the end.

"
The Cat ABC" by Josie Firmin, 1994  ISBN: 0-307-1751-4-6
Cute pen and watercolor drawings of cartoony cats who are doing
something letter-related on each page -- "nibbling noodles"or "verifying
vertibrae" or "zipping zippers".

"
Eating the Alphabet" by Lois Ehlert, 1994  ISBN:  0-15-2224435-2
Gorgeous bold water color images of fruits and veggies (1 - 12 for each
letter), such as fig for "F" and mango for "M".  I have a toddler-friendly
"board book" copy.

"
City Scene from A to Z" by Rachel Isadora, 1983  ISBN:0-688-01802-5
The illustrations are charming black and white etchings (or possibly pen and
ink drawings) of children and families in city settings.  One word per page.  
Includes E for subway entrance, G for gallery, and J for jazz.

"Anno's Alphabet" an adventure in imagination by Mitsumasa Anno, 1975.

"
Read and Hear ABC Rhymes" by Carl Memling, 1964.
This vintage Little Golden Book comes with a 45rpm vinyl record to play
while your child reads (if you can scrounge up a record player ;-)  Each
letter has a peom/song starting with "I'd like to..." such as "I'd like to sail the
ocean deep... for "O".

"
The Big Golden Animal ABC" by Garth Williams, 1954 (reprinted 1980)  
ISBN:  0-307-10457-5   This oversized book (9x12) is very simple in design,
with a wonderful, large, watercolor animal for each letter,and a small bunny
that appears on each page and interacts with the main animal (for comic
releif ;-)  If you're a fan of Garth Williams, you'll enjoy this book.

"The ABC Bunny" by Wanda G. Coward, 1933... an oldie but a goodie.


Favorite Online ABC Resources

Bembos Zoo -- pick a letter, and it will be turned into an animal, using the
letters in the animal's name
Have any favorite ABC books of your own to recommend?  
I'd love to hear about them!  Drop me a line at:

submissions at homeschooldiner dot com
(simply replace "at" with @ and "dot" with  . )