From Acorn to Zoo

An alphabet book illustrated in the deadpan style of Satoshi Kitamura is bound to be entertaining and intriguing. Each page has a scene full of people, animals and objects, all arranged with a sort of mad logic and all related to one letter. Purists should note that the arrangement is alphabetic not phonic (thus 'umpire' and 'uniform') but this adds to the richness and interest for those readers who are exploring words, both spoken and written, for the first time. I wish the print had been larger - the tiny labels are very hard to read - but the pictures are delightful and the ingenuity with which the scenes are created is often very funny.