Animal Alphabed
A young child has many beloved stuffed animals--at least one for each letter of the alphabet. But as her mother tucks her into bed and she prepares to slip into slumber, she realizes one of her cuddly creatures is missing. Which one could it be? She must recite the alphabet and remember all her critters in order to figure out which animal slid out of her alphabed.\ Margriet Ruurs writes children's books and educational materials and has a master's degree in education. Margriet...
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\ Children's LiteratureEach night when the little girl falls asleep, animals are all around her—stuffed animals of every kind and animal appliques on each square of the quilt tucked under her chin. "Cuddly creatures, from A to Z, tucked into my animal alphabed." But this night as she checks her animals, there is one she does not see. Now she has to keep sleep away to find the animal that has gone astray. The search is long and confusing with detours for a picnic and tea and time out for naps; it is hard to keep track of just what is going on. With so many words for a young reader to struggle through, they will most likely get lost before the missing animal is found. Tongue-twisting alliteration, an overly-elaborate vocabulary, forced rhymes and awkward punctuation make the book difficult to read aloud. The charming watercolor illustrations support each page of text, but they cannot make up for an alphabet bedtime tale that seems to have lost its way. 2005, Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, Ages 3 to 6. \ —Anita Barnes Lowen\ \ \ \ \ School Library JournalK-Gr 2-In this flight of fancy, a young girl prepares for bed, gathering all of her stuffed animals from A to Z around her. Unfortunately one toy is missing, and struggling to stay awake, she tries to figure out which one it is and where it might be. Each rhyming page furthers the plot while addressing a letter of the alphabet using animals and adjectives starting with that letter. Though sometimes this is a stretch ("Hairy Caterpillar" for H and an unidentified insect called "Queen" for Q), readers get the idea. The plot itself is more confusing. Is this missing creature a stuffed animal or is it from the design on her quilt? The child continually checks each square, but the lost animal that turns up is actually a stuffed zebra that has fallen to the floor. The search itself drifts in and out of the child's dreams, and the cartoon, watercolor illustrations bring animals from the quilt to life, creating more confusion and busyness in the art. Young listeners may enjoy the rhyming words and alliteration, but the story itself is a snore.-Julie Roach, Watertown Free Public Library, MA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.\ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsAs a young child is tucked under her animal quilt, she realizes that one of the animals is missing. So begins an abecedarian search that will have all the animals coming to life and leading her on an adventure. Unfortunately, while the concept is creative, its execution is very poor. The search is so convoluted that young readers will get lost along the way, just as the main character does when she repeatedly loses track of her mission. The mixes of different rhythms and rhymes make this a difficult read aloud, for both the reader and the listener. Punctuation adds to the difficulty. Some of the rhymes are forced, others seem to be used just for the rhyme and not because they move the plot along. Emery's illustrations accurately reflect the silliness of the text, including the hints to look for the missing animal on certain pages. Nevertheless, even this element of fun will not rescue this effort. This tortuous bedtime search for a missing animal is one to miss. (Picture book. 4-7)\ \
