Customer Reviews

A Is for America (Alphabet Books)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's hard to find fault with a book that educates children with enough originality and intelligence to keep parents and teachers on their toes as well. Don't be surprised to find yourself learning what you thought you already knew!

I really like this book. It's been in my 5-year-old's collection for about 2 years now, and it still get pulled down and read every few weeks.

Devin Scillian has done a fantastic job of using events and facts from just about every imaginable facet of American life, both well-known and obscure. For example, the book mentions the YMCA, Harriet Tubman, "The Twilight Zone", Kellogg's Rice Krispies, Hoover Dam, and egrets. That's on top of many major cities, states, and historical events.

The book layout features a very interesting two-tiered system. The main flow of the book is carried by a series of 4-line verses, one per letter. This portion is suitable for reading to pre-readers. Along the sides of each page, relevant factoids are given, further illuminating the main verse. This makes the book hold appeal for older readers, probably even up to 4th or 5th graders.

Pam Carroll's well-drawn illustrations are very "busy", but not in a bad way; my boy enjoys hunting for all the listed items. Adults can get a chuckle noticing the curious juxtapositions, such as Huck Finn reading a Hemingway novel on the "H" page, or, on the "N" page, Norman Rockwell painting Neil Armstrong, while both are on the moon.

I found this book to be an utter delight. Highly Recommended.

When you open this book, the first thing you see is page after page of beautiful imagery for young and old alike. This is sure to catch many inquisitive kids attention and stimulate dinner conversations all around the nation. BRAVO, PAM and Devin

This is a very good book. I purchased it for my daughter's fifth birthday. The illustrations are very well done. The text flows well with an almost sing-song rhythm. There are also explanations on the side for places and ideas mentioned in the main text. But can someone tell me where Mt. Rainier is in the picture? I can't see it. An example of the main text is "V is for Veterans and the valor they displayed in vying for vital victories and the sacrifices they made. V is for Virginia and Vermont and Vikings, too. It seems they got here long before Columbus was able to."

As an educator I enjoy using this book in my classroom. I have used it with second, third and fifth graders as it also compliments our state standards. It is refreshing to see an ABC book that is great for older children. The illustration are beautiful and the vocabulary used has a wide range of difficulty for English language learners as well. I own one of the other books in this series and will be purchasing many more to get a complete set. I just love them!

We received this as a gift when our son was born. We loved it so much we have started collecting all of the "Discover America State By State. Alphabet Series" books. While our son is way too young to appreciate the artwork and history the rhyming is great and have found these to be great before bed and naptime books. We look forward to expanding our "Alphabet Series" library as our son grows.

This book is not just a great learning experience, but is beautiful with the illustrations. This book was not just A is for Appple, it was very up to date with historical data. Great book.

This book crams too many bizarre things onto its pages. Also I didn't think the author used the best choices for some of the letters. I was very disappointed when I saw this book since it had gotten good reviews. I advise getting "America is.." (Borden/Schuett) instead.