Alphabet books galore!

We have had a recent string of good luck when it comes to alphabet books! We've stumbled upon some very unique and captivating stories that, of course, just had to become a part of our collection. My little bookworm has been perfectly delighted with these new titles and we both discover new reasons to adore them each time we sit down for a read.

R is for Railway: An Industrial Revolution Alphabet
     One of six alphabet history primers by Greg Paprocki, this oversized board book features bold, detailed illustrations that highlight aspects of life in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. What I have loved about this book is its truly unique vocabulary. How many children's stories include words like haberdashery, jig and zither? My little bookworm, being only 12 months old, simply enjoys flipping through the book and looking at all of the artwork for now. She points to things and I name them for her and explain their function in the time period. But as she gets older this book will be a great conversation starter and jumping off point for a small history lesson. Other titles in the series:

• S is for Sabertooth: A Stone Age Alphabet
• C is for Castle: A Medieval Alphabet
• M is for Monocle: A Victorian Alphabet
• V is for Vittles: A Wild West Alphabet
• A is for Atom: A Midcentury Alphabet

Scholastic's Touch and Feel ABC
     My daughter received this book as gift for her first birthday and it has been one of her favorites ever since. This book features delightful rhymes, real-life photographs that are bright and eye-catching and different sensory elements throughout, such as things to touch and flaps to lift.  After reading it through several times, my little bookworm has figured out where all of the touch-and-feel places are and now enjoys flipping through the book on her own, exploring all of the letters, different textures and hidden surprises. She is also at the age where new faces are fascinating, so seeing images of actual children rather than illustrations is an added bonus for her. This is one of our breakfast books, a story that she flips through in her high chair while we have our morning meal.

Alphabet
     Matthew Van Fleet has created an exceptional interactive sensory experience with this ABC book. The illustrations are quite beautiful and highly detailed. There are so many surprises to be found on each page that both my little bookworm and I discover new things during every read through. For instance, on our last read I finally noticed that there is a scratch-and-sniff stinkbug as one of the things representing S. Described as an ABC safari, this book features a vast array of creatures and plants (there are actually four things representing each letter to find per page), touch-and-feel, lift-the-flap and pull tab elements, rhymes, opposites and synonyms, and an ABC poster in the back of the book! Endless fun with this book.

My Awesome Alphabet Book
     This book is, as the title states, awesome! Dawn Mitchell's illustrations are bright, whimsical and, in most cases just plain cute. The standout aspect here is the pages themselves. They are letter-shaped and feature a variety of things on the back that represent the letter.

Melissa & Doug's My ABC Book
     Not only is this an alphabet book that showcases each letter through a cute drawing and rhyme, but it is a toy as well! Each letter is represented with a removable magnetic piece. My little bookworm loves taking the magnets out, and putting them back into their places. While listening to a story, she is simultaneously learning her letters and working on her fine motor, spatial reasoning and matching skills.

We stumbled upon Alphabet and My Awesome Alphabet Book while browsing through the children's books at a T.J. Maxx department store. If you didn't know, both T.J. Maxx and Marshalls carry new children's books and the selection changes weekly. We have found a lot of amazing books at those stores. The real fun of it is the unexpected finds. You just never know what you will come across and the same is true of library used book sales! Our copy of Melissa & Doug's My ABC Book was found at a library used book sale where children's books were 3 for $0.25! You can't beat that price. R is for Railway: An Industrial Revolution Alphabet we found at a Schuler Books & Music and Scholastic's Touch and Feel ABC was snagged while shopping at Meijer.  Whenever we go out, we always end up browsing through books somewhere, which has led to some fantastic finds and remarkable reads!

Happy reading!