From Publishers Weekly
The distinctive clay-based letters in this abecedarian volume steal the show. Bronson (the illustrator of Teatime with Emma Buttercup) combines clay with sequins, tissue paper, pipe cleaners and more to create contortionist creatures that curve and twist with the greatest of ease, against painted backdrops that suggest the high energy of the big top. The photographed figures appear in arrestingly crisp and clear close-ups, making their stylized, almost Cubist features all the more striking. The text provides serviceable rhymes ("C is for Clown/ curved round like a noodle./ D is for Dog,/ who looks like a poodle"), but the ingenuity comes through the artwork; each page gives readers the chance to identify their ABCs in a novel context. The clown here is a long, impossibly thin lime-green and banana-yellow clay figure embellished with pearl buttons and a hat festooned with rickrack. He's curved around a D composed of two trained white poodles with pom-poms and googly eyes, one sitting on a ball, the other clinging to the first in an arc. Other standouts include a charming green snake S, of course and a charismatic ringmaster bowing in an R shape to an audience of tiny painted faces. It is easy to imagine even the youngest of children enjoying this show as they learn to identify all of its participants, A to Z. Ages 2-5.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 1-Though there is always room for a good alphabet book and circus themes have a ready audience, Bronson's contribution may confound her audience. Text joins illustration in a variety of ways. Those spreads that tackle just one letter are reasonably straightforward. The pages that combine the illustrations for two letters, however, may be part alphabet, part "I Spy" (Scholastic). "G is for Giraffe" has a curled clay giraffe dropping through a pipe-cleaner hoop held by two figures said to be Harlequins-the hoop is the crossbar of the H. Two poodles stand on a ball in sort of a D shape inside a curled clay clown C. The illustrative creativity is undeniable as clay, buttons, rickrack, sequins, bells, tassels, cotton, feathers, and fabric meet paint in the requisite bold circus colors. For the most part, the rhyming couplets bubble along; however, the occasional addition or deletion of a syllable could disrupt a spirited reading (e.g., "I is for Illusionist, attempting a feat. J is for Juggler-hold on to your seat"). Nevertheless, libraries serving sizable preschool communities may want to add this one for its visual merit and for fans of Bronson's previous illustrative accomplishments, including Caron Cohen's Crookjaw (1997) and Lindsey Tate's Teatime with Emma Buttersnap (1998, both Holt).
Jody McCoy, The Bush School, Seattle, WA
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
