I truly like the style of this ABC book, with the ABC's corresponding with the development of the story, it's pretty ingenious, but I'm not too fond of the story itself. An anteater, bear, cat and duck look for a place to get warm, and have many adventures along the way, but the characters themselves are fairly unlovable, ungrateful, and complaining. This will probably not come out a lot at story-time. ( )

This book is appropriate for grade 1. This alphabet book uses the ABC to tell a story about Anteater, Cat, Duck, and Bear and their adventure through the book to find a friends house that will take them in to keep them warm. Their home is not warm enough so they believe that other homes will take them in and keep the warm. It turns out that no one wants to take them in. In the end they got home and their fire place is going by Elephant and now the house is to hot.
Teachers could use this book to:
- have students create an Alphabet book that is more of a story with each letter then just a phrase. Each letter has a purpose.
-Teacher could make the book into a play and students can act out the roles of the different letter characters.

A bitter wintry wind blows as four unlikely friends-a duck, cat, anteater and bear-leave their unheated home in search of warm lodging. The animals encounter every letter of the alphabet as they roam; the "E-Elephant" has a cozy but crowded house, the "F-Fox" looks too hungry for the duck's comfort and the "G-Goat" lives in a haunted mansion. Thanks to Simmonds's icy illustrations, the Ernest Shepard-esque characters' plight takes precedence over the alphabetic premise. Gray outlines trimmed in blue evoke the tundra-like outdoors; accents of warm yellow and pink signify snug indoor lairs; and charcoal gray blended with pine green indicates a shadowy nightfall. Such details as a kangaroo that donates its sweater to the shivering anteater, and an umbrella that passes from a skunk to the bear to an angry wolf carry through from page to page and encourage repeat readings.

The anteater, bear, cat, and taciturn duck journey fourth on a wintery trip through the alphabet in search of warm shelter. Along the way, they encounter elephants, a goat, a kangaroo, a lion, and a skunk, all of whom are depicted with charm in Simmonds's pastel colored-pencil drawings. " 'A-A-Atishoo!' sneezes the Anteater. 'I-it's a-absolutely ar-ar-arctic!' " begins the story. " 'Brr!' shivered the Bear. 'It's b-b-bitter!' 'C-Cold!' complained the Cat."