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What is it about the alphabet that gives artists the license to get weird?  Historically, the alphabet book is one of the earliest American children’s book forms.  You know.  “In Adam’s fall, we sinned all.”  That kind of thing.  I’m certain someone has already written, or is in the process of writing, the full-blooded history of American abecedarian outings for the young, so I won’t delve into such matters to any great length.

Now every year we get some wacky alphabet titles in the mix.  The usual art books.  Coffee table picture books, if you will.  I’m used to seeing one of them, two max, in a given year.  So you’ll forgive me for being so surprised when I saw not one, not two, but a whopping FIVE esoteric picture books come out in 2014 to varying degrees of artsy fartsyness. They’re also rather hugely enjoyable in their own odd little ways.

With that in mind we’ll begin with the most accessible and work our way out from there.

Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

You may have heard me mention this Jeffers title in my recent Newbery/Caldecott prediction list for the fall.  The book creates one short story per letter of the alphabet, making it a devilishly clever creation.  Definitely falls into the older kid category of picture bookdom, but I’d argue that the stories and art are so much fun that it won’t have a hard time maintaining a child’s attention.

Take Away the A by Michaël Escoffier, illustrated by Kris Di Giacomo

And you thought they couldn’t come up with an original concept for a picture book anymore?  Ha!  Check this puppy out.  In it the book goes through the alphabet, taking away a single letter from each word so as to produce a new one. The text reads:

“Without the A
the BEAST is BEST.

Without the B
the BRIDE goes for a RIDE.

Without the C
the CHAIR has HAIR.”

Back me up on this when I say no one’s ever done this before.  They haven’t, right?  Just brilliant.

Work: An Occupational Alphabet by Kellen Hatanaka

Now we’re getting a little more design-y.  The book is ostensibly a listing of different jobs by letter (though, as my husband pointed out, just try and make a living as an “explorer” or “mountaineer” these days).  Hatanaka has this smooth digital style that’s easy on the eyes.  I did actually attempt this one with my three-year-old, thinking (for some reason) that the lure of the jobs would hold her attention.  It didn’t but that could just mean it’s for older children.  Certainly there are a lot of visual gags in here that will appeal primarily to them.

Alphabetics: An Aesthetically Awesome Alliterated Alphabet Anthology

by Patrick and Traci Concepcion, ill. Dawid Ryski

And here we go.  Your first clue that kids may or may not be the primary audience for this book?  Well, it contains a zombie smoking a cigarette (recall the recent cigar brouhaha with The Scarecrow’s Wedding?), a “sultry seafaring sailor” by the name of Stella, and a “hellacious Harley hog”.  On the other hand it had an entry on “Gus the gregarious giant with geek-chic glasses” which definitely appeals to the Portlandia in me.  This is sort of an Urban Outfitters alphabet book.  Looks nice in a small studio apartment.  Children need not necessarily apply.

Alphabetabum: An Album of Rare Photographs and Medium Verses by Chris Raschka and Vladimir Radunsky

(Not to be confused with the other Chris Raschka alphabet book Talk to Me About the Alphabet)

Apparently these photos are from Radunsky’s personal collection with Raschka providing three line verses per letter.  They primarily feature West European, white kids and Kirkus was down on the book because it found it too snarky.  Not a problem I particularly had, though again I question whether or not an actual child would want to have anything to do with this book.  Rather, I would hand this to teen fans of Edward Gorey that buy old photos in antique stores for fun (which is to say, myself circa age 15).

Any others I may have missed that are in the same vein?  Surely there’s another one out there sporting a 2014 publication date.  Surely.

Let’s start off with the me stuff since it’s quick.  First and foremost, if you’ve thought to yourself, “Boy, I’d really like to watch Betsy talk about the Core Curriculum and then mention all the 2012 nonfiction books for kids she really likes and why they stand out,” you are in SUCH luck.  The Highlights Foundation is hosting the Books That Rise Above workshop.  Attend and you’ll hear folks like Patti Lee Gauch, Linda Sue Park, Leonard Marcus, Deborah Heiligman, and an alliterative librarian/blogger.  And yes, I do know all that Core Curriculum stuff now.  And boy, it’s a doozy.

• Speaking of Patti Lee Gauch and myself, the great editor visited NYPL the other day and spoke at my Children’s Literary Salon.  SLJ covered the event as well.  And the woman, if I do say so myself, was an undeniable hit.

• Finally, there’s a lovely Joan Aiken event coming up celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.  I’m going to be a part of it (you can see me mentioned here as the “& more”.  Very very exciting stuff.

• “So, to introduce 3- to 6-year-olds to the notion that there’s an inevitability to death . . . “  Is there anything better than a good Marjorie Ingalls Tablet piece?  With Yom Kippur present and accounted for I’m grateful for Ms. Ingalls article on introducing kids to death with books, as mentioned in her piece Don’t Fear the Reaper.  As for Rosh Hashanah and atonement, check out her Teaching Kids to Apologize.  You can tell she doesn’t write her own titles for her written pieces, can’t you?

• The Caldecott blog Calling Caldecott is up and running yet again, which is fantastic.  I couldn’t be more pleased to see them discussing works of photography as well.  Does my creaky old photography loving heart good, it does.  Plus Robin Smith gets extra points for ending her post with, “I hope the committee will step gently out of the box and consider this one.”  BOOM!  That’s how you do it, folks!

• Photography is no stranger to designer Chad Beckerman.  It was through his site Mishaps and Adventures that I learned about Abrams cool new abecedarian fun.  To quote: “We over here at ABRAMS KIDS have started a campaign on Instagram and Twitter called A for ABRAMS ( #aforabrams ) We are collecting A’s that are artful, well designed, or just plain cool from anywhere that you might find them. The idea is whenever you happen to see one of these artful A’s out and about you can join us by hash tagging your A #aforabrams as well as including our Instagram or twitter handle @abramskids or @abramsbooks.  Have some fun and we hope you all get to see the world around you a little better.”  Head on over to Chad’s blog to see a whole smattering of fine and fancy A’s.

• Now let’s see what those crazy Antiquarians are up to. I admit that I don’t make it out to Antiquarian events as often as I’d like. That’s why it pleases me to see the following: “The bicentennial exhibition, ‘In Pursuit of a Vision,’ consisting of 150 items from the collections of the American Antiquarian Society (including some 35 children’s books) is now on display at the Grolier Club, 47 E. 60th St., New York.  The exhibition is free and open to the public Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. until November 17, with the exception of Columbus Day, Oct. 8.” The exhibition was reviewed in the Sept. 12 edition of the New York Times and the American children’s books on display range from James Janeway’s Token for Children (1700) to the McLoughlin Bros. picture books and artwork produced in the late nineteenth century.

• Who are Britain’s Top Ten Children’s Literature Superstars?  No, this isn’t a reality show competition (images of Philip Pullman balancing a pie plate on his chin suddenly pop uninvited into my head).  The Independent has presented such a list and we are free to act very American and say, “Who is that?”  Many is the Yank who would say those words when confronted with Jacqueline Wilson, Alan Garner, and Enid Blyton (Famous Five, famous schmive).  Tolkien, Pratchett, and Gaiman need not apply apparently.  Zoe Toft wondered who the American Top Ten Children’s Literature Superstars would be.  I’m sure we all have our own lists, but I guess I’d have to go with Maurice Sendak, Eric Carle, E.B. White, Madeleine L’Engle . . . um . . . help me out here, people.  Thanks to Playing By the Book for the link.

• Daily Image:

Until Alison Morris introduced them to me, I was unaware of the delight that was the Little Free Library system.  You can read the New York Times article about them here.  Basically they’re these adorable little boxes that you can fill with free books for folks to take.  So for those of you with too many galleys in a given year, voila!  Your solution.  Here are some particularly cute ones (I like the prominent Going Bovine in the first):

Thanks to Alison Morris for the links!