A Is for Musk Ox

PreS-Gr 4–A self-involved musk ox and a practical zebra argue their way through this book that pairs each letter with adjectives that can describe or nouns that list characteristics of the musk ox. Written entirely in dialogic exchanges and illustrated in oil on board, with clever collagelike correction tape over the more common alphabet words (apple, baby, clown), the book makes its way from A to Z. The musk ox declares himself awesome, brown, and cool (also, living in Canada). The apple is eaten, “baby” covered over, and the clown shivers in the cold. At the end, Z is for Zebra, our zebra, who is shown posing in an embarrassing photograph of him as a baby. Children will find the dialogue hilarious, and teachers will be able to encourage student re-writes. Read this along with Nick Bruel’s Bad Kitty (Roaring Brook, 2005) for older wordsmiths. For younger students, pair it with Mike Lester’s A Is for Salad (Grosset & Dunlap, 2000) and Mary Etling and Michael Folsom’s classic Q Is for Duck (Clarion, 1980) for some higher-order alphabet guessing games.–Lisa Egly Lehmuller, St. Patrick’s Catholic School, Charlotte, NC