Children - Learning Basic Concepts, Poetry - Assorted Topics, Children - Animals, Children - Fiction & Literature, Children - Poetry

My beastie book of ABC

Name: My beastie book of ABC
Author: David Frampton
ISBN: 9780060288242

by David Frampton

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Overview

A is for alligator.
Z is for zebra.

And in between is a rollicking alphabet that turns the ABCs into a madcap zoo filled with surprises and laughter! For every child who has ever asked if a leopard has to wash off its spots or if a rhino's horn goes "beep," David Frampton has created a book filled with woodcuts of animals so vivid they seem to leap off the page and into our laps!

Illustrations and brief rhymes present an alphabet of animals from alligator and hippo to parrot and zebra.

About the Author, David Frampton

The rhymes in this book come from conversations David Frampton has had with children. He crafted each line from the questions and comments they had about animals. It's true! A child asked him if a rhino's went "beep-beep." And so, the "My" in the title does not refer to David himself, but to the individual children who inspired each of the rhymes.

In his own words...

This is me with all the wood that I carved to make the woodcuts for this book. What is a woodcut? It is a picture that is cut into a piece of wood, then covered with paint and squeezed against a piece of paper. Each picture in this book is made from four separate woodcuts, one for each color. Did you ever step in a puddle and then leave footprints as you walked along? Well, making woodcuts is a bit like that and just as much fun.

New Hampshire is where I have been living and working on woodcuts for the past twenty-five years. We (my wife and two children) love our small town with its quiet ways and friendly people, Our house is near the town center, where you will find one store, a firehouse, and the town library that used to be a one-room schoolhouse. To complete the picture, add a moose, a bear, and a million trees. I have been making woodcuts for children's books for many years, but this is the first one that I have written and illustrated. our kids grew up without a television. No TV, but there were so many wonderful books. It was by reading to them night after night that I learned about the words and sounds and rhythms that kids love to hear. These are the sounds in my own stories—The Whole Night Through, as well as several new ones that I am currently working on.

In his own words...

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

A grinning reptile greets readers on the first spread of My Beastie Book of ABC by David Frampton, which pairs delightfully ridiculous rhymes with playful woodcuts in a psychedelic palette: "A is for alligator./ Her teeth are quite/ awesome./ Yours will be too, if you just/ brush and floss 'em." (Apr.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature

What should you name a new pet newt? Does an Octopus have eight hands or eight feet? How can you tell a zebra from a horse? All of these questions asked by children have been addressed in this fun filled book of ABC animal rhymes. All of the rhymes in the book were crafted because of conversations that David Frampton had with young children. This is a marvelous book to teach children about ABCs and animals at the same time. Each letter of the alphabet is given a page for a beautiful wood cut drawing of an animal and a poem about that animal. This is a book that children will delight in reading and re-reading. The book is a fun way to teach young children about the sounds of the alphabet while they also begin to recognize the specific letters associated with those sounds. 2002, Harper Collins Publishers,
— Nicole Peterson

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 3-This dazzling romp through the alphabet spotlights real and imaginary creatures with hilarious descriptive rhymes: "A is for alligator. Her teeth are quite awesome. Yours will be too, if you just brush and floss 'em." Each page has a letter, a rhyme, and an illustration of an animal. The striking woodcuts feature unusual combinations of colors in predominantly hot hues and are framed by a white border. Every so often Frampton throws in something to keep readers on their toes: "M is for moose out in the barn. No wait, that's a cow-.darn!" The woodcut is of a cow-on the back cover there is another "M is for moose-," with one portrayed there. The book offers obvious possibilities for poetry sessions and art projects, but it is first and foremost just plain fun and not to be missed.-Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The one-page-per-letter format is not new, but here each letter is accompanied by a distinct and unusual piece of verse. Above and below each large, colored woodcut, a rhyme-not always exact-describes that page's animal. The descriptions are both funny and surprising: "K is for kangaroo. If I'm not mistaken, she has a small pouch, just right to keep cake in." The child reader is included in the narrative by hypothetical possibilities: "H is for hippo with mouth open wide. You could easily fit a tricycle inside. But then, it might be too yucky to ride." Adult humor, too, is given a place: "Q is for quail, found in woods dark and tall. But not for too long, they're building a mall." The number of lines per rhyme varies a bit, as does the rhythm of each verse; a few are slightly awkward and seem to have the wrong number of syllables. However, their humor overshadows that issue. The illustrations are colored with low intensity, creating an organic feeling that matches the woodcut medium. Animals range from newts to sea urchins to "xog, an unusual pup. I don't think you'll see one. I just made him up." Although an audience over four years will be too old for this genre, new readers of five or six may relish the chance to read these silly rhymes out loud to younger siblings. (Picture book. 2-4)