An Excessive Alphabet is proof that it’s OK to have more

An Excessive Alphabet, Avalanches of As to Zillions of Zs looks familiar and that’s OK. It’s written by Judi Barrett, with illustrations by Ron Barrett, the team behind the children’s classic, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Even if you’ve never read that book there is a comfort food quality in An Excessive Alphabet that makes readers feel that everything is going to be alright.

The book is a young reader’s alphabet book, but it’s designed for children that have some familiarity with it. The ideal audience for An Excessive Alphabet is ages 4-8, that way the younger kids will be able to find the simpler things on each page while older readers will be able to locate the hidden objects with a little assistance.

Each page features a letter. For example, Herds of H’s has big H’s, small h’s, a horse, a house, hat, hanger, hen, hole, hammer, hula hoop and (fire) hydrant. I think I got all of the H’s on that page. The illustrations are fun, detailed and drawn in the same manner that made Meatballs beloved by so many kids. In looking at the H page again I realize that I missed the hippo.

And every page is like that. Kids will have a great time looking at an iguana licking ice cream, shark biting a (fly) swatter or the gingerbread man stuck in some goo. Think of it as a self paced Where’s Waldo book, where there is more than one answer.

Initially, we were frustrated at the book’s lack of an answer key to locate all of the objects. Each letter could have up to two dozen possible things to search for. Hint: on the front and rear inside cover you can see a detailed listing of each thing that is drawn on every page.  I discovered that trick after our 7 year old clued us into that fact.

This is comfort alphabet food for the child who knows their A, B, C’s. An Excessive Alphabet will also hit the sweet spot with parents that recognize Ron Barrett’s style of art from Meatballs. It’s comforting, different and makes you want to dig deeper, yet is entirely his own. In a way it’s reminiscent of Richard Scarry’s artwork in that it’s immediately recognizable to the books and stories that contain it.

If you have a child 4-8 years old this will be one of their leisure time books. They’ll certainly learn from it, in addition to having fun searching for pictures and comparing it to the words. Just don’t tell them that they’re learning.