Artful Alphabets

Some alphabet books focus on introducing letter recognition to prereaders. Others bring in more advanced concepts such as sound properties and alliteration. Building informational text around the A to Z progression is another useful approach. And then there’s the other type of alphabet book–the kind where those 26 characters serve as a starting point for imaginative artists to enter into wildly diverse explorations of space, color, line, and concept. Preschoolers may enjoy them for their color and liveliness, but these books also engage older readers by challenging their visual perceptions, encouraging careful observation, and inspiring creativity.

Some illustrators cast the alphabet as characters like actors performing on stage. Others play with the look and shape of the actual letters, flipping them upside down or surrounding them with lines and color to create surprising new objects. Items representing each letter might be formed by paper snowflakes, discarded objects, or even very bendable human beings. Some books reveal the alphabet in unexpected places, including cityscapes, labyrinths, and insect wings. Still others challenge readers to discover the letters by concealing, disguising, or even encrypting them. Here are some especially impressive examples of alphabetic artistry, where the only common element is that they start with A and end with Z.

Preschool and Elementary

AGEE, Jon. Z Goes Home. illus. by author. Hyperion. 2003. Tr $16.95. ISBN 0-7868-1987-1.

K-Gr 3 –After escaping from his place in the “City Zoo” sign, Z travels past the other 25 letters, each of which forms a fitting object. Z flees across a B-shaped bridge, navigates a labyrinth of Ls, and manages to avoid a viper that resembles a V. Deftly humorous line drawings add just the right touch to this clever adventure.

ALDA, Arlene. Arlene Alda’s ABC: What Do You See? photos. by author. Tricycle. 1993. Tr $12.95. ISBN 1-883672-01-5; pap. $6.95. ISBN 1-58246-073-6.

K-Gr 2 –Carefully composed color images reveal letters that can be found all around us. Some, like the J of a hanger’s hook, are those that children might easily spot themselves. Others, such as the K formed by two angled twigs and their reflection in the water, become clear through the keen eye of the photographer. The placement of the printed letter on each of the pages neatly mirrors the position and form of its photographic counterpart.

BASE, Graeme. Animalia. illus. by author. Abrams. 1987. Tr $18.95. ISBN 0-8109-1868-4

PreS-Gr 5 –Elaborately detailed, full-color illustrations introduce amusing animals involved in a variety of unusual activities. Along with rickshaw-riding rhinoceroses and juggling jackals, each dazzling painting also includes a multitude of other items beginning with the same letter. These range from fairly easy to spot (hatchet) to nearly impossible (hand grenade). The extra challenge of finding the well-hidden figure of the artist in each scene adds to the fun.

COX, Paul. Abstract Alphabet: A Book of Animals. illus. by author. Chronicle. 2001. Tr $17.95. ISBN 0-8118-2940-5.

Gr 2-6 –When symbols replace letters, readers put abstract pieces together to discover hidden words. The letter D becomes a vertical yellow blob, O is a red stair step, and G looks like a lime green boomerang; thus, D is indeed for “dog” in this brain-stretching animal alphabet. Besides introducing intriguing concepts of symbol and meaning, the book is a challenging game of memory and logic for readers who opt to hide the visual key that neatly folds out to the side of each page.

ERNST, Lisa Campbell. The Turn-Around, Upside-Down Alphabet Book. illus. by author. S & S. 2004. RTE $15.95. ISBN 0-689-86585-7.

PreS-Gr 2 –Simple colored block letters form surprising figures when looked at just the right way. A sideways T is Pinocchio’s nose or a croquet mallet, while upside down it’s a clown’s top hat. Sometimes the well-chosen backing color becomes part of the concept, as when the red space within sideways U becomes “a hot dog on a bun.” This makes a fun guessing game as well as an inventive tribute to the powers of perception and imagination.

FLEMING, Denise. Alphabet under Construction. illus. by author. Holt. 2002. RTE $16.95. ISBN 0-8050-6848-1.

Pre-Gr 2 –Mouse makes his mark on each letter of the alphabet, dyeing the D, sawing the S, and tiling the T. Within the distinctive medium of stenciled, hand-made paper, Fleming captures the thickness of the C that’s being carved, the wrought iron lines of W as it’s welded, and the pruned P’s lush greenery. Sparkling colors bring rich variety to each scene, and Mouse’s industrious antics come through as equal parts hard work and pure fun.

GROBLER, Piet. Little Bird’s ABC. illus. by author. Front St. 2005. Tr $8.95. ISBN 1-932425-52-7.

PreS-Gr 3 –Spirited line and watercolor illustrations introduce a vibrant cast of birds and their alphabet of expressive sounds. A spider descends from atop a J, eliciting a “Jeepers creepers!” from a surprised bird, while another gives a “Grrrr!” when his tail is pulled by a little guy. Sound effects include the “Plop” of a chicken’s egg and a “Doink!” of an apple bopping one surprised feathered fellow on the head. The assorted sounds invite participation, and each illustration bursts with animation and impish humor.

HORENSTEIN, Henry. A Is for...?: A Photographer’s Alphabet of Animals. photos. by author. Harcourt. 1999. RTE $16. ISBN 0-15-201582-5.

PreS-Gr 3 –Subtly tinted black-and-white photographs show just enough of each figure to make a guess at the creature pictured. Clear close-ups of a bat’s elongated fingers and a quail’s feathers highlight the intricate make-up of their features, while the solid tortoise foot and the curled monkey’s tail are just plain fun to look at. Visual “answers” appear at the end where the full animal photos are revealed. An excellent guessing game that inspires appreciation of the subtle beauty of the animal world.

HOWELL, Will C. Zooflakes: ABC. illus. by author. Walker. 2002. Tr $15.95. ISBN 0-8027-8826-2; RTE $16.85. ISBN 0-8027-8827-0.

PreS-Gr 5 –Intricate cut-paper snowflakes reveal an alphabet of animals in perfect circles of six-sided symmetry. For example, a series of connected unicorns neatly joins horns in the center, while “octopus” features an impressively ordered edge of 48 intertwined legs. Set against black backing circles, the delicate rice-paper images convey a pleasing sense of controlled complexity, even before readers identify the series of linked beasts within.

ISADORA, Rachel. ABC Pop! illus. by author. Viking. 1999. RTE $15.99. ISBN 0-670-88329-8; pap. $6.99. ISBN 0-14-056827-1.

PreS-Gr 5 –Isadora has created original art featuring the striking colors, dotted shading, repeated patterns, and bold lines of the Pop Art’s 1960’s heyday. These elements also have tremendous kid appeal, full of energy and surprises, from the lonely ape on the side of a building to the various yo-yos in nine symmetrical panels. The result is an eye catching picture book for younger readers and an excellent introduction to the art style for all ages.

JIRANKOVA-LIMBRICK, Martina. The Artful Alphabet. illus by author. Candlewick. 2003. Tr $16.99. ISBN 0-7636-2187-0.

K-Gr 3 –A girl and her dog travel from A to Z, interacting both with the actual letters and with the objects which they begin. For example, most of the V words emerge as music from a violin, while the S series is laid out on a board game (or is it a snake?) in the snow. Each ink illustration introduces a surprising new layout of letter-filled scenes with varied use of color, composition, and typeface.

JOHNSON, Crockett. Harold’s ABC. illus. by author. HarperCollins. 1981. pap. $5.99. ISBN 0-06-443023-5.

PreS-Gr 2 –Harold uses his crayon, his imagination, and an alphabetical progression to determine the route of his evening adventure. Each time he comes upon a brown printed letter, he adds purple lines to form an object to match. The quick-thinking artist makes a parachute from P, a rhinoceros R, and other practical creations to continue his journey. Each new simple line drawing is both satisfying and surprising as the boy makes his way back to his bedroom and the Zs of sleep.

JOHNSON, Stephen T. Alphabet City. illus. by author. Viking. 1995. Tr $16.99. ISBN 0-670-85631-2; pap. $6.99. ISBN 0-14-055904-3.

Gr 1-5 –Photorealistic paintings capture the E within a stoplight, a fire escape that forms a Z, a train wheel’s Q, and other keenly observed sights. Sharp-eyed viewers will enjoy spotting the letters among a rich variety of city scenes. Many of the images, like the T that appears in the open sky between buildings and the F of a water tower’s pipes, show how an imaginative artist can reveal new ways to look at what children see every day.

LOBEL, Arnold. On Market Street. illus. by Anita Lobel. HarperCollins. 1981. Tr $16.99. ISBN 0-688-80309-1; pap. $6.99. ISBN 0-688-08745-0.

PreS-Gr 2 –The merchants on Market Street are dressed in, or possibly made of, the very wares that they sell. The yarn lady’s clothes, shoes, and even her hair are comprised of skeins of yarn in a variety of shapes and color, while the man selling musical instruments has a bass-fiddle body and saxophone arms. Each colorfully detailed, framed vendor fills a page making the ingenious construction of their figures all the more captivating.

MACDONALD, Ross. Achoo! Bang! Crash!: The Noisy Alphabet . illus. by author. Roaring Brook. 2003. Tr $16.95. ISBN 0-7613-1796-1; PLB $23.90. ISBN 0-7613-2900-5.

PreS-Gr 2 –A cacophony of boisterous sounds revolves around a comically unfortunate sequence of events on each page. The “PEEP” of a sharp-beaked bird leads to the resonant “POP!” of the balloon it has just poked, and a child who whaps a punching bag gets whammed back and lets out a tearful “WHAA!” Comic-book style illustrations, paired with sounds printed out in a wide and colorful variety of 19th-century typefaces, fill each page with energy, mischief, and fun.

MACDONALD, Suse. Alphabatics. illus by author. S & S. 1986. Tr $19.95. ISBN 0-02-761520-0; pap. $4.99. ISBN 1-4169-0305-4

K-Gr 3 –They start in simple block form, but these letters twist, turn, grow, and fly until they turn into something surprising and new. P tilts, rises, and sprouts a wing to become a plane in five steps, while S stretches, bulges, and grows a beak in the course of its swan conversion. Careful composition, imaginative use of color and line, and skillful treatment of white space make each transformation sequence clear and satisfying.

MERRIAM, Eve. Spooky ABC. illus. by Lane Smith. S & S. 2002. Tr $16.95. ISBN 0-689-85356-4.

Gr 3-6 –Deliciously creepy oil paintings add just the right touch of lighthearted menace to this collection of spooky poems. Many of the selections add an extra bit of gruesomeness to the already unsettling words. The coiled noose of “Rope,” for instance, sprouts an eye and mouth to resemble a snake. There’s humor too, as the visual interpretation of “Trap” shows a witch neatly ensnared by her cat. Even the letters that top each page feature appropriately eerie qualities, like the crossed bones of X and the vapory line of G (for “ghost”).

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART. Museum ABC. Little, Brown. 2002. RTE $16.95. ISBN 0-316-07170-6.

PreS-Gr 3 –The alphabet serves as an entry point to 102 works of art, four for each letter. Most kids know that “A is for Apple,” but they will consider the fruit differently after viewing renderings from a Lichtenstein woodcut and an oil painting by Cézanne, along with a 1966 watercolor and a Greek scene from over 2000 years ago. Clear reproductions and carefully chosen details make this an exciting introduction to diverse artistic styles and eras.

MIGNON, Philippe. Labyrinths: Can You Escape from the 26 Letters of the Alphabet? tr. from French by David Homel. illus. by author. Firefly. 2002. Tr $14.95. ISBN 1-55297-559-2; pap. $9.95. ISBN 1-55297-579-7.

Gr 3-7 –Twenty-six intricate mazes also form the letters of the alphabet. A rhinoceros waits at the heart of a complex series of fences laid out in an R, while a serpentine set of waterways leads to pirates in the center of the P. The K of “kayak” consists of broken sea ice, and Volcano’s V is shaped by lava tubes ending with an eruption. A brief poem or quotation accompanies each full-color illustration. The stylistically varied mazes are fascinating to look at, even if readers never find the way out.

PELLETIER, David. The Graphic Alphabet. illus. by author. Scholastic. 1996. Tr $17.95. ISBN 0-531-36001-6.

Gr 1-5 –Stylized letters set against stark black squares create unexpected images in this sophisticated title. Precise computer-generated artwork provides the seamless lines and distinct colors that make each scene effective. The juggled dots of the lowercase J and the sheer lines of the bulky E (for “edge”) exemplify the rich variety of form and style within the structure, while the elegant simplicity of the two white triangles that somehow create “vampire” demonstrate the playful imagination of the presentation.

PILOBOLUS. The Human Alphabet. photos. by John Kane. Roaring Brook. 2005. Tr $16.95. ISBN 1-59643-066-4.

K-Gr 5 –Color photographs set against sheer white backgrounds depict the agile and inventive members of the Pilobolus dance company interpreting the alphabet using nothing but their own flexible bodies. Inset rectangles show players posing in the shape of each letter. These are impressive enough, as when one member lies flat, holding another on his feet to make an L. But the main illustrations, such as the “ladder” made up of eight intricately stacked and balanced figures and the amazing pair of “eyes” neatly formed from curled and stretching models, are truly remarkable.

PINTO, Sara. The Alphabet Room. illus. by author. Bloomsbury. 2003. Tr $16.95. ISBN 1-58234-841-3.

PreS-K –Beginning with A for apples, clear and colorful gouache paintings depict objects against a solid-colored door. Opening the door, which is actually a page flap, reveals the same object whimsically depicted in a room. The room becomes progressively more crowded as the alphabet continues, and the growing number of items is rearranged each time; M’s moustache, for instance, appears variously on Dog, Cat, and even Kite. The result is a fun spot-the-object challenge and a memory game with pleasurable surprises at each successive flap-lift.

SANDVED, Kjell B. The Butterfly Alphabet. photos. by author. Scholastic. 1996. RTE $15.95. ISBN 0-590-48003-0; pap. $5.99. ISBN 0-439-07947-0.

K-Gr 4 –Vivid close-up photographs expose letters that can actually be found within the delicate patterns of butterfly and moth wings. The R on the Placentia Tiger Moth stands out as if it were printed there on purpose, while the Charexes Butterfly’s K is more subtly disguised. A smaller full body photo opposite gives readers an extra chance to spot each letter, which can be quite challenging. A rhyming couplet highlights a word to match each letter, while awe-inspiring bursts of color and pattern reveal the complexity of natural designs.

SEEGER, Laura Vaccaro. The Hidden Alphabet. illus. by author. Roaring Brook. 2003. Tr $17.95. ISBN 0-7613-1941-7.

PreS-Gr 2 –Rectangular die cuts show each object through the black cover page; a vertical lift of the page uncovers the surprising full-size letter. The triangle nose of a mouse turns out to be the acute angle of a Swiss cheese M while a pair of balloons form the inner circles of a starry B. Each unfolding brings an unexpected visual treat that could easily inspire readers to create their own hidden letters.

SHINDLER, Ramon & Wojciech Graniczewski. Found Alphabet. illus by Anita Andrzejewska & Andrzej Pilichowski-Ragno. Houghton. 2005. Tr $16. ISBN 0-618-44232-4.

Gr 1-4 –Utilizing leaves, gears, bits of food, fragments of metal, and other assorted treasures, the artists explore the alphabetical possibilities of found objects. The octopus formed around breadsticks and acorns is pleasingly simple, while a mishmash of metal shapes with a wood scrap horn results in a distinct and solid rhinoceros. Simple rhymes describe each figure, but it’s the clear color photographs and endlessly inventive constructions that make this an intriguing introduction to an art medium with strong child appeal.

SNEED, Brad. Picture a Letter. illus. by author. Dial. 2002. RTE $15.99. ISBN 0-8037-2613-9.

K-Gr 3 –Contrasts between color figures and black-and-white background illustrations highlight this multilayered alphabet. Watercolor and gouache foregrounds feature hippos, for example, posed in such a way that their gaping mouths and horizontal ears shape the letter H. Meanwhile, hydrant, hoe, helicopter, and haystack populate the pencil and graphite scene that fills the rest of the page. A wagon-toting mouse unloads each letter one by one, and sharp eyes will spot another mouse somewhere within each of the twenty-six montages.

SPIRIN, Gennady. A Apple Pie. illus. by author. Philomel. 2005. RTE $16.99. ISBN 0-399-23981-2.

PreS-Gr 2 –An engaging cast of Victorian children act out a centuries-old alphabet story. Each large, cream-hued letter serves as a prop, standing out, but at the same time fitting into each intricate watercolor scene. White space provides an elegant backdrop for the portrayals of kids who “knelt,” “longed,” and “mourned” for the pie, interrupted occasionally by impressive full-color spreads. An alphabet-appropriate animal appears on each page, often interacting with the apple that rests on each bottom corner.

VAN ALLSBURG, Chris. The Z Was Zapped: A Play in Twenty-Six Acts. illus. by author. Houghton. 1987. Tr $18.95. ISBN 0-395-44612-0; pap. $8.99. ISBN 0-395-93748-5.

Gr 2-5 –The avalanche which falls on A is just the first of many mishaps for the unlucky players in “the alphabet theatre.” By the time “the Z was finally Zapped,” letters have been bitten, pecked, kidnapped, and nailed, among other sad (but funny) fates. Skillfully shaded pencil illustrations depict each character’s turn on the stage with wry humor. Since each “act” appears a page turn before the accompanying text, the book also works as a guessing game and vocabulary stretcher.

ZEMKE, Deborah. D Is for Doodle: A Step-by-Step Drawing Book. illus. by author. Blue Apple. 2004. spiral. $12.95. ISBN 1-59354-029-9.

Gr 1-5 –Octopus starts with O, and so can a drawing of the animal. Step-by-step instructions show how letters, along with assorted squiggles, curls, and dots, can be used to create simple line drawings. Two sideways Es become the four legs of an elephant, for example, while lowercase Es are the foundation for an elf. The inspired notion of using the abc’s as a starting point for art, as well as words, makes this a great choice for motivating readers to try their own drawings.

Web Sites

Alphabet Synthesis Machine. alphabet.tmema.org. Art:21, PBS. (Accessed 11/29/05).

Gr 4 Up –Designed as an “interactive online artwork,” this “machine” creates a complete alphabet of abstract symbols by building upon the user’s original squiggle or shape. The font can then be named and downloaded for use.

Bembo’s Zoo. www.bemboszoo.com. Roberto de Vicqu de Cumptich. (Accessed 11/29/05).

K Up –In this impressive animated interpretation of the inventive book by Roberto de Vicqu de Cumptich, which is currently out of print, users click on a letter of the alphabet (for example K for koala) to watch and listen as the letters in each animal name flip, twist, and grow as they form the shape of the creature.

Construct Your Own Alphabet. www.denisefleming.com/pages/activities-alphabet.html. Denise Fleming. (Accessed 11/29/05).

K-Gr 4 –Build your own wild and colorful alphabet, just like Mouse does in Denise Fleming’s Alphabet Under Construction (Holt, 2002). Using basic craft supplies, along with icing, candles, a small asparagus fern, these on-line instructions create solid models of all 26 letters from the book.