Customer Reviews

A, My Name Is Alice

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

 

 

I am a Pre-Kindergarten Readiness teacher in my school district for 5 year olds. This book was listed in my Fountas & Pinnell kindergarten phonics text to assist students in learning to read their names in print. I used this story to highlight my students names as we placed them on the word wall in my classroom. I found the text enjoyable and a great learning tool.

This is a great ABC book. It is different from the usual format so it really gets kid's imaginations going. As a teacher I love to have a book that expands vocabulary. This book is good as a model for a class book. I also use it as a part of a first grade maps unit. We find all of these interesting places!

The format of this book is consistent for each letter of the alphabet. The letter being featured on the page is large and in color. The text length and layout is also consistent page to page. Also, the repeated structure for each letter helps the reader anticipate the same rhythm for each page.
This is an entertaining book but not one that would be appropriate for a very young child. It would be more appropriate for children that are five years or older. On each page, there is a lot of activity. Not only are there two characters, a place, item being sold, and two animals, the illustrations also convey confusion or chaos. For example, the W page says, "W my name is Winifred and my husband's name is William. We come from Wales and we sell whistles. Winifred is a WOLF. William is a WEASEL." The illustration shows the wolf and weasel blowing whistles as seven other animals fly through the air and cover their ears. There is also a clock shattering and two signs with fine print. With so much commotion on each page, it would be difficult for a child to focus on the intended words that showcase the letter for that page.
Another reason this book would not be a good choice for a very young child is that Bayer frequently uses animals, names, and places that might be unfamiliar to the child. For instance, "C my name is Clara and my husband's name is Claude. We come from Calcutta and we sell cakes. Clara is a COW. Claude is a CONDOR." On this page, the author could have chosen more well-known names (Catherine or Carl), place (Cleveland or California), and animals (cat or cougar). However, the author does include notes at the back of the book about some of the less familiar creatures.
All of the reasons that this would not be a good book for a child just learning the alphabet are the reasons as to why it would be extremely fun and entertaining for any child or adult past that developmental stage. The unusual words can provide an instant vocabulary lesson. The illustrations help support the text by clarifying any words that would be unknown to the reader.

I bought this for my classroom. My kids loved it and it helped them with the skill of alliteration that we were working on in class. Love the illustrations!!!

We all (or most of us) know this game, whether we played it by bouncing a ball, jumping rope, clapping hands, or even just sitting on the stoop.

The author and illustrator have given this book a decidedly comic touch that I never had when I played this game - here I was, as a kid, like a FOOL searching for something reasonable to sell for "g" - and they have a goose and gorilla selling "giggles", of all things! The whole book tends this way - i has a great picture of the pair trying to sell ice cream to a very doubtful animal in the middle of a snowstorm, the couple for d sells "dust" - and you can see them blowing dust right into another animal's surprised face! It's a riot.

I'm not sure I like the way the individual animals are labeled at the bottom of the page... that text there makes you tempted to read it aloud, and that messes with the flow of the book. I would rather have had the animals listed in the back instead. And I don't like that they just made up a random space critter for an "animal that starts with x" - there are several creatures that have x as their initial, starting with x-ray fish and xeme and ending with xenops and xerus... although, as this was published in 1984, I suppose they weren't able to google it like I did just now! (Tell the truth, I don't like that alphabet books list things-starting-with-the-letter-x, as a general rule. I'd rather they listed things that show x in the way we USUALLY say it, so the x animals would be, like, a fox and a vixen or something.)

However, those details are trivial.

I purchased this book for my new granddaughter when I found it on this site. This is the same book that I must have read hundreds of times to my daughter, her mother! It's a fun book, the illustrations wonderful, and made both my daughter and I a bit "misty" to see it again!!

The book arrived in perfect condition and we were all excited to see this "old friend".

our five year old has this story read to him over and over. he has memorized it now. a great way to teach beginning sounds.

My 5 year old girl got this book out of the library and is now begging me to buy it. This book is a great sing-song version of the jump-rope game we played as a child. The different ryhmes are fun and a learning experience.

I had this book for a very long time, and I loved it! It's a cute book that teaches children the alphabet and it's a cute game that I used to play when I was younger. I still have this book, and I have a reason to: When I become a mother and have kids of my own, I'll be able to read it to them! : )