Chatting About Books:
Recommendations for Young Readers

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Episode 10—Alphabet Books for All Ages

Book Chat

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom written by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault; illustrated by Lois Ehlert (Simon & Schuster, 1989)

Chicka Chicka Boom! Boom! Will there be enough room for all 26 letters up the coconut tree? This colorful book’s rhythm and rhyme makes a perfect first alphabet book for babies and preschoolers.
Best for ages 3 months to 8 years.


• I Stink! by Kate and Jim McMullan (Harper Collins, 2006)

Any young reader interested in trucks and dirt will enjoy this scoop on the life of a garbage truck. Within the daily grind of a garbage route, Kate and Jim McMullan cleverly insert the alphabet soup of gross garbage this truck picks up.
Best for grades K to 2, ages 4 to 8.


• Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet by David McLimans (Walker Books for Young Readers, 2006)

This is an alphabet book for young and older elementary kids. While it will appeal to younger readers because of the bright, bold graphic designs, older readers will enjoy this book because of all the animals that it introduces. Each of the 26 letters is transformed into an endangered animal and basic facts about the animals are included on each page. McLimans includes more information about each animal in the back of the book. Gone Wild reinforces letter learning for young children and sparks curiosity in older readers about fascinating but rare animals on our planet.
Best for grades K to 2, ages 4 to 8.


• Gone Fishing: Ocean Life by the Numbers by David McLimans (Walker Books for Young Readers, 2008)

Using eye-popping blue and black graphic designs, David McLimans cleverly disguises each number from 1–10 as a threatened or endangered animal from the ocean. He also gives fun ocean facts from one to one billion using multiples of 10 to get there. Just as in Gone Wild, McLimans includes extra facts about each animal in the back of the book.
Best for grades K to 2, ages 4 to 8.

Cookies and Milk
Emily feasts on Oreo cookies and chocolate milk with Ilyiana, Ian, and their mom Selee. Ilyiana and Ian share favorite pages from the alphabet book that they made about water park words. Selee talks about the learning moments that took place while working on the water park ABC book with her kids and offers advice to parents who want to try this project at home.

About the Host

Emily Manning started teaching first grade in 1999 and is now a reading intervention teacher for third- through fifth-graders. Emily’s passion is reading; she enjoys the challenge each year of finding books that will spark the love of reading in her students. Emily’s favorite books are the ones kids ask to read over and over — the ones that are worn out from so many readings, complete with wrinkled pages and loose bindings.

These include

• Bubba the Cowboy Prince by Helen Ketteman (Scholastic, 1997)
• Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (Yearling, 2001)
• The Jazz Fly by Matthew Gollub (Tortuga, 2000)
• The Magical, Marvelous, Mystical Coat by Catherine Ann Cullen (Little, Brown, 2001)
• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (Puffin, 2004)