Little Bird's ABC [Hardcover]

Piet Grobler (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

A is for Apple, B is for Boy, right? Not according to these little birds! A is for a jumping bird's cry of Alley-oop! H is for the sound a bird makes when it sneezes---Ha-choo! T is for a woodpecker's Tok tok.  Readers of all ages will be surprised and amused twenty-six times by the silly sounds that little birds make in this charming, whimsical alphabet book.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Elegantly impish watercolors and a soupçon of naughty humor make this one of the freshest primers in quite some time. An aviary of precisely inked and improbably feathered friends (think A.O. Blechman filtered through the sensibilities of fashion illustration) scampers through the alphabet against a crisp white background. The hand-size hardcover format lends the proceedings the cozy, silly intimacy of a tickle. Grobler (Carnival of the Animals) varies his approach to the letters: some spreads capitalize on the shape, some opt for the sound and some do a kind of double duty. F is the first letter of the "Ffftt...." emitted from a contented bird's derrière after eating beans; T is for the "Tok-tok-tok" sound made by a woodpecker-type bird hacking at the letter's trunk in pursuit of a fat ladybug. A few letter treatments are predictable or opaque (Z connotes the snores of a sleeping bird, X seems to stand for a feathered daredevil's demise), but most bubble with a puckishness that's certain to win the hearts of even veteran abecedarians. All ages. (Sept.)
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From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3–An appealing avian crew stars in this alphabet of sounds. These birds are brimming with personality and playfulness, conveyed through a rich variety of color, pose, and facial expression in the line-and-watercolor art. Each verso presents the upper- and lowercase versions of a letter, along with a picture; the action is completed on the right, with the appropriate sound or words spelled out. A mischievous woodpecker, for instance, clings to a capital T as a ladybug crawls across the top. On the ensuing page, the bird breaks the letter–Tok-tok-tok–and the insect topples off. Uh-oh! describes a little guy that gets caught pecking the egg of a much larger bird, while Doink! is the sound of an apple that beans a fanciful bird; the Ffftt… that comes from still another's rear should elicit embarrassed giggles from children. In most cases, readers encounter a new bird with each page turn, but a few stick around. A multicolored fellow gives an Mmmm… while unearthing a worm at M and adds Nice worm! on the following spread as it swallows its victim. Creative use of line and color makes each illustration a pleasant surprise, while sounds/words such as Iiiee!! and Vroom, vroom! are unexpected. With its small, square size and deceptively simple look, this is an inspired and original entry.–Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library, OR
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 52 pages
• Publisher: Lemniscaat USA; Translated, Illustrated edition (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932425527
• ISBN-13: 978-1932425529
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #692,707 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars not for us, September 11, 2006

By 

wjjjww (mooresville, nc USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Little Bird's ABC (Hardcover)

i bought this for the sweet 16 month old i babysit, thinking educationally. i'm just not ready to teach him that "f" is for "ffftt" (fart), "s" is for splat, when the bird poops, and "x" is when the bird dies.

4.0 out of 5 stars Easily our favorite ABC book, July 8, 2011

By 

Julia Corbin - See all my reviews

This review is from: Little Bird's ABC (Hardcover)

This is my 22-month-old's favorite ABC book (except possibly Dr. Seuss). Far more interesting than the usual A-apple, B-ball, C-cat book, which is gathering dust on a bookshelf upstairs, this morning she had my husband read her the book as he was getting ready for work, then ran directly to me, had me read it, and has "read" it to herself at least 3 times in the 30 minute since then. We are on the second round of a month-long library checkout and it is time for me to go ahead and just buy the darn thing. Educationally, I like that it engages her enough to echo the sounds of each letter. It's also possible that this is so interesting to her because her parents read it with enthusiasm and humor, since it is much more interesting for adults than most ABC books. Not for the faint of heart - if you're uncomfortable with potty humor or bodily functions, look elsewhere. We are potty training, so bodily functions take up a significant portion of our day anyways and we talk about them freely. I also noticed that no reviewer has yet commented that the B bird is burping after consuming a mug of some yellow, frothy beverage (cream soda, I presume? :)

5.0 out of 5 stars lil bit crude but cute =), September 25, 2010

By 

MissLissaMA (Haverhill, MA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Little Bird's ABC (Hardcover)

this sooooo funny. my boys and i love this book. B is for burp, etc not for the sensitive natured prissys. We think its fun & funny! :-p