It Doesn't Get Better Than The ABCs

Recently, an essay I wrote appeared here. So I thought it would fitting to write about some of the ABC books that Hadley enjoys reading because of the subject matter: the ABCs.

One book she enjoys very much is The Sleepy Little Alphabet by Judy Sierra. The story unfolds as each letter in the book gets ready for bed. They take baths, they jump on the bed, they don't want the lights turned off, they read stories. Hadley's favorite has to do with the letter "u." This letter takes off his underwear before bed, something that gets a few giggles each time.

The last page is my favorite: each letter is cuddled up in bed, and each has a piece of notebook paper for a blanket. This book was published in 2009, and looking at the pieces of notebook paper (even though they're supposed to be blankets) makes me content to know that in a world of iPads and texting, someone else thinks notebook paper is worthwhile. Or perhaps this illustration is a symbol for notebook paper becoming obsolete. After all, the letters are all sleeping on it. I'll choose not to believe that.
















Another alphabet book Hadley enjoys is Chicka Chicka Boom! Boom! by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault. The letters in alphabet in the book are pretty rambunctious and try to climb up a tree only to find out the tree coconut tree can't hold all 26 letters. They all come crashing to the ground and the Mamas and Papas (the capital letters, not the musical group) come to their rescue.

I enjoy reading this book because of the rhythm and poetry, and also because Hadley likes to read it along with me. We do have to pause on the page where D has a skinned knee, E has a stubbed-toe, and F has a band-aid on. Hadley is quite concerned about the letters at this point in the story.

Besides the alphabet, another similarity these books have in common is their inside covers. The alphabet covers each of them, and before each story, Hadley tells us that we need to sing the song as we point to each letter. We do NOT begin until we've sung the song.

















Last week I got a Target coupon book in the mail, and in the middle of the book was a page with the ABCs on it. The good people at Target suggested I sit my little one down and try and come up with words that start with each letter. So that's what Hadley and I did. You don't have to ask Hadley twice to play an alphabet game. She did a great job. She could think of words for almost all the letters. And when she couldn't come up with some, she improvised. For example, when we got to the letter n, she suggested we use the word "nagnet."
"You mean magnet?" I asked.
"Yea, just use 'n' instead."
And when we got to the letter t, she told me to write down the word, "tapalope." I asked her what a "tapalope" is.
"'Tapalope' is a word that starts with 't.'" she replied.
She's quick on her feet, this one.

Our completed list:

Attempting to write the word "ball":