You may have noticed that the “Check It Out” column was absent from last Sunday’s newspaper. I didn’t write one because I was out of town visiting family. In December 2018, I became a great-aunt, and my mom became a great-grandmother. Such important firsts need to be celebrated, so we all descended on my mom’s house last week and officially welcomed the newest member of the family. My grand-niece is perfect (of course), and I predict that she will become the most well-read child ever thanks to her parents, grandparents, and her great-aunt, the librarian.
Keeping an eye out for books to add to my grand-niece’s personal library is a task I’m happy to take on; and having access to thousands of children’s titles through the library makes this “task” so much easier. Two new picture books recently caught my attention, and I want to share these charmers today in hopes that other readers — big and small — will check them out and learn why an unusual alphabet book and a story about literate chickens make for super fun reading.
There is no question that I adore sweet picture books — especially if kittens, bunnies, squirrels or goats are involved. Squee. However, give me a picture book with quirks — good quirks, that is — and I’m all in. Enter “P is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever.” Now, I know what you’re thinking. If a book labels itself as “the worst alphabet book ever,” why read it? Because it’s not the worst — it’s actually one of the best!
Instead of matching a letter with something common (B is for ball; C is for cat; etc.), Raj Haldar and Chris Carpenter turn the alphabet on its ear by focusing on “all the letters that misbehave and make words nearly impossible to pronounce.” For example, J is not for Jam but Jai Alai: “Juanita and Bjorn happily played jai alai before eating fajitas in Juarez.” The example for the letter S is “Seas.” This sounds pretty ordinary until you read that “Cee Cee swam through the debris in the seas to see the imaginary isle of New Arkansas.” The letter S can be so complicated!
