Overview
Albert Alligator tappy-taps atop the A.He’s always first in line, and that’s the alligator way.
Little ones can learn their letters with this unusual alphabet book. Lisa McCue’s amusing animals introduce the letters from A to Z with funny rhymes and lots of alliteration.
But that’s not all! The back of the foldout accordion pages presents the animals without the text, so when the perforations at the front and back of the book are detached, the foldout can be removed, creating a lovely alphabet frieze perfect for decorating a nursery or playroom.
Synopsis
Albert Alligator tappy-taps atop the A.
He’s always first in line, and that’s the alligator way.
Little ones can learn their letters with this unusual alphabet book. Lisa McCue’s amusing animals introduce the letters from A to Z with funny rhymes and lots of alliteration.
But that’s not all! The back of the foldout accordion pages presents the animals without the text, so when the perforations at the front and back of the book are detached, the foldout can be removed, creating a lovely alphabet frieze perfect for decorating a nursery or playroom.
Children's Literature
This alphabet book attempts to teach the alphabet by means of animal cartoons and memorable descriptions. For example, Albert Alligator represents the letter "A," a big brown bear represents the letter "B," and so on. This method of teaching the alphabet has been used so often that it takes a truly creative approach to make it engaging and fresh. Unfortunately, this board book does not succeed in its attempt. While the illustrations of the animals are whimsical, their descriptions are curiously uneven and forced. Part of the problem is inconsistency: a rhyming and rhythm scheme is introduced but not continued throughout the book. Similarly, an attempt to use alliteration succeeds in some places and but falls flat in others. The last sentence, "The alphabet is finished now—that's all there is to see!" is uninspiring, to say the least. Even the title, "Fuzzytails," is strange: most of the animals featured in the book do not have anything resembling a fuzzy tail. The one interesting feature of this book is that the cardboard pages fold out like an accordion into one long strip, which can then be cut out and used as a wall decoration. Reviewer: Leona Illig