Into the A, B, Sea: An Ocean Alphabet

Into the A, B, Sea: An Ocean Alphabet
by Deborah Lee Rose
illustrations by Steve Jenkins

Ages 0-4

Scholastic Press; 1st edition (September 1, 2000)

There are quite a few abecedary books featuring animals. Our all time favorite is Alphabeasts by master artist Wallace Edwards.

Steve Jenkins is no stranger in our house. His cut-paper collage work has inspired me enough to try a few with my kids. So, it was only a matter of time before I got down to sharing A, B, Sea here.

Swim the ocean waves with me
and dive into the A, B, Sea

Thus starts this oceanic adventure showcasing exquisite sea creatures using simple rhyming sentences. Not just large or cute creatures. There is the much-ignored Barnacles for B and the typically forgotten Zooplankton for Z, making this a useful book for discussing food chain and ecosystems of the sea.

Brief notes at the back of the book add some information about each of the animals.

There is always this irrepressible curiosity in me, even today, to see what is presented for some of my favorite letters - viz., Q, U, X and Z - especially X, in the alphabet books. I'll just have to leave it to you to find out what A, B, Sea offers. Suffice it to say I was eXpecting Xanthareel or even the ubiquitous X-ray fish and found something different.

One of the aspects that attracts me to animal books is the suggestion of movement, of dynamic activity and flux, without clobbering. A, B, Sea offers crisp and beautiful verbs for the animals: Manatees lumber, Rays swoop low, Dolphins spin. The spin part particularly caught our attention since we recently learnt about Spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) from A Whale of a Tale!(Cat in the Hat's Learning Library).

The illustrations are breathtaking as we've come to expect from Steve Jenkins' books.

All in all a visually stimulating, informative, delightful book that has scored repeat reads from the pre-schooler every night for over a week now, and has inspired the kindergartner to explore further.

[image source: paperbackswap.com]

Read To Me Picture Book Challenge

Hurray for Books!

That's what came to Ana's mind when thinking about the message she wanted to put on one of her (many) hand-made bookmarks.

And, since we read a ton of books anyway, it seems like a fun thing to participate in the Read To Me: Picture Book Challenge hosted by There's A Book

We read quite a few books on a fairly regular basis -i.e., daily, sometimes reaching for old favorites, sometimes must-take-home new ones from the library. Well, "new" is a relative term.

So, I was leaning towards the challenge level: "Harvesting": 200 picture books with a child in a year.

I figured reading 200 picture books must be a cakewalk considering we've been doing close to that (possibly more) each year.

However, the fact is, out of every dozen books we read, only one or two resonate with the kids enough to urge me to share here in my blog.

Then, I got to thinking. Realistically, writing reviews for 200 picture books is not going to work out so well with the eternal rush this life has turned into, at least, not if I plan to stay sane.

And, if I don't write a review per book diligently, it is hard to keep track of the books we read and how it affected us for this Read To Me: Picture Book Challenge. (No cluster posts or listings for this challenge as far as I understand).

Also, since I subscribe to the If you have nothing nice to say, then don't say anything at all school of thought, I seldom share books that I didn't like. What's the point, right?

Plus, now that we are more into fantastic chapter books, reading picture books with Ana is getting fewer and far between... Og pretty much overcompensates with his obsession for books.

Therefore, a conservative challenge of "Watering": 36 picture books with a child from now till Dec 31, 2011, is the level I am settling on for now.

I can always change my mind, I am sure :)

The Greedy Sparrow: An Armenian Tale

The Greedy Sparrow: An Armenian Tale

retold by Lucine Kasbarian
illustrated by Maria Zaikina

Ages 4-8

Marshall Cavendish Children, April 2011

Folktales and fables from around the world have striking similarities in that they convey universal truth and wisdom, typically via animal protagonists, generously laced with humor. And yet, they differ in the presentation, drawing from cultural traditions of the people orally handing down these tales.

One of the Armenian folktales passed down through generations in the author's family orally is The Greedy Sparrow. The book dedication reads, To my forbears, great-grandmother, and father, all of whom preserved the sparrow fable through the ages. The great-grandmother mentioned is a celebrated storyteller from the Old Country.

I was delighted to get in touch with author/journalist Lucine Kasbarian a few weeks ago. As her website notes, the author is passionate about her ethnic Armenian heritage and enthusiastically shares it with the world.

The Greedy Sparrow is the first time English retelling of this tale in the children's picture book format. It starts with Once there was and was not a sparrow, which suggests that the tale may be real or imagined, we may never know.

A sparrow gets a thorn in his foot. He flies around and finds a kindly baker who removes the thorn and tosses it into her oven. The wily sparrow, instead of thanking her and moving on, comes back a while later and demands that he get his thorn back. Needless to say, the baker cannot give it back. Either you give me my thorn or you give me some bread demands the sparrow. And the baker has no choice but to give some bread.

The sparrow is not content. He goes about tricking and bartering item after item, including a new bride in the bargain, until he meets a minstrel with a lute. When the confounded minstrel has no choice but to hand over his lute, the sparrow seems contented. He starts singing the story, In place of a thorn, I got a bread. In place of a bread, I got a sheep... and so on till, ...I got a lute. And now I am a minstrel!

In all the gloating, he loses footing and ends up with a broken lute and a thorn in his foot. Back at Square One.

Trickery is not rewarded, especially when it takes advantage of the good nature of people who willingly help others. That message got cleverly (and clearly) conveyed to my six year old who pored over the illustrations with fascination, while reading the simple narration. She particularly like the speech bubbles, with red text reserved for the sparrow, which automatically made her change her voice and accent as she read aloud the sparrow's part in the narration.

Illustrator Maria Zaikina was approached to illustrate The Greedy Sparrow when the author and publisher viewed her Armenian folk animations on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJ5NAXT9pLs

The bold, vibrant folk-style illustrations complemented the story well, transporting us to a time and place that evokes nothing but simple unadulterated joy, and possibly nostalgia for a bygone era.

Ms.Zaikina's illustrations reminded me of my childhood favorite Ladushki, Ladushki - Russian Folk Rhymes and Tales For Little Ones illustrated by Yuri Vasnetsov and retold in English by Irina Zheleznova, a book vibrant with color and imagination, which to this day stirs warm memories when I share it with my children.

References to places in Armenia, the map and activities on author's website and the traditional attire shown in the illustrations gave us a jump start to explore the geography and culture further.

Here is an interview with the author, conducted by Tom Vartabedian, at Asbarez.com.

[Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the author.]

[image source: Lucine Kasbarian's website]

[This post written for Saffron Tree]