Alphabet

A cute children’s book with a definite Canadian slant. Great illustrations for Alphabet words that will introduce new ideas to readers from further south, and celebrate northern culture and experiences. Fun for the toddles and those who read to them.

This edition of A Northern Alphabet is a board book. It’s a very nice size – 7″ wide, 9″ high (22.9 cm x 17.9 cm) – for little hands.

Ted Harrison (1926-2015) was born in England but when he came to Canada he fell in love with the northern part of the country and stayed for the rest of his life. His paintings changed to capture the beauty of the Yukon and its people, as shown in this book. He was famous for his remarkable bold coloured paintings and in later years he was made a Member of the Order of Canada for his contributions to Canadian culture through his paintings and books.

In A Northern Alphabet, for every letter of the alphabet Mr. Harrison illustrated with paintings from what he saw and experienced around him in the Yukon. His work is simplistic and full of colour, sophisticated and delightful.

Two examples: H h The husky is watching the boys play hockey. N n The northern lights shine in the sky at night. The art illustrating those letters gives readers an education in some of the culture of Canada, as it does throughout the book.

A Northern Alphabet by Ted Harrison is a beautiful book for young children to learn both the alphabet and something about the culture of the Canadian far north. They will love that the renowned artist chose to paint a moose a deep pink, a bear orange, and the sky always in bands of bold colour. They will even learn new words such as anorak, Inuit, muskeg. This is an excellent book to introduce children to art that looks as if it was made just for them, and for anyone who wants to know more about Canada’s north. ( )

A Northern Alphabet by Ted Harrison is fun board book that not only teaches the alphabet, but also teaches about the culture in northern arctic area. It shows different seasons of the year in the Yukon and helps children see what life might be like there. The drawings are not extremely detailed (no facial features), but the pages have splashes of color. I love alphabet books and am happy to add this one to my collection. ( )

A lovely and quintessentially Canadian board book - and definitely very northern, even if you're already living in Canada! ( )