Review: 'Alison Jay's ABC'

I usually opt for story-based books with Toddler, mainly because I prefer to have a narrative structure to follow. Counting or letter books are generally quite dull for me and if I'm not enjoying them, chances are I won't read them as enthusiastically and so Toddler won't enjoy them either.

But on a recent trip to the library I saw this ABC book and couldn't resist borrowing it.

I've been a fan of Alison Jay's work for a few years - we have a couple of other books by her, including the wordless story 'Out Of The Blue'. Her artwork is just stunning and she's great at creating a narrative with just pictures. Even in this ABC book she manages to create mini-stories to connect the pictures.

I love how in the above spread the girl us showing the owl a picture - of the panda on the next page! There are lots of similar connections so that even older toddlers and preschoolers can have fun spotting them.

In many of the pictures she also includes other words beginning with the featured letter - like the aeroplane above the apple and the bee and butterfly flying around the balloon. Little touches like this are what really bring Jay's work to life - as well as being beautiful to look at, her illustrations are so full of details that you can spot something new every time.

If you're introducing your little one to the alphabet but, like me, feel uninspired by your regular ABC books, I thoroughly recommend this one. As I've been writing this post, Toddler is sitting on my knee and said 'owl' and 'apple' when he saw the pictures so I can confirm it's great for building and reinforcing vocabulary!!

Linking up with #ReadWithMe hosted by Mama Mummy Mum.