I liked this book. I felt that it did a good job of teaching both animals and the letters of the alphabet. It possessed the key qualities in a very basic non fiction book such as accuracy good organization and engaging to the reader. The way that the book was engaging was through the various animals it chose to represent each letter. The author used some of the common ones such as alligator for a and some unique ones such as a quahog clam and stink bug. This helps broaden the child's knowledge and encourage them to learn the alphabet because they are excited and interested in the animals connected to each animal. The book obviously went in alphabetical order which is very important when being used as non fiction (teaching) because children need to know the order that the letters belong in. The main purpose of this book is to teach young children some animals and their alphabet. ( )

This book has fun interactive pages, touch and feel, movable parts in the book, and fun pictures. Some animals I have never heard of in the book. Many pictures that relate to each letter. Fun interactive pop up poster comes along with the book. ( )

We've had this from birth (written at 22 months). Tactile for the young, some atypical animal choices for the older kids to expand their animal vocabulary beyond the typical. Take care with the legs on the kangaroos, I've had to glue them and my daughter is actually very careful with her books. A fun one when she's not really interested in a serious read but wants to flip through a book. ( )

Great book in textures, colors and moveable panels, so children can learn about the alphabet associated with a letter of the alphabet.
Age group : 2 and up
Source : Pierce College

This is my favorite of van Fleet's creative interactive books. Not only does it have his typical assortment of textures to feel, fold-out flaps, and moving pieces, but it also has an alphabetic search-and-find at the end and a pop-up poster included. The theme of the book is the alphabet, so each spread features animals that correspond to the appropriate letter, with roughly four letters across the two pages. The clam with its squishy texture and the octopus with its sticky tentacle are some of our favorite animals, and we also like the velvety giraffe that folds up to extra heights. The illustrations are his usual friendly animals, bright and cuddly, with a lot of details on each page. At the end of the book, the author presents three more animals for each letter of the alphabet for the reader to find, animals that also begin with that letter. This book is great fun, and the biggest challenge is keeping it away from my girls when we're not reading it together, because they like it so much that they love it to pieces (we are already on our second copy). This book, and others by the author, are excellent avenues to showing children the joy of reading. ( )