"E is for Elephant. Elephants are one of the largest animals on our planet. Their very large ears keep them cool. A baby elephant is a calf."

Don’t let the title fool you. This book is much more than an animal alphabet book. As is typical for ABC books, there is an animal assigned to each letter. Each page has a few letters, written in both capital case and lowercase, accompanied by an illustration of the representative animal. But there are also so many fun facts about the animals and their habitats to go along with it that are listed under each letter.

Young children will certainly benefit as they learn the alphabet by reading about their favorite animals. This book presents a wonderful opportunity for “I read, you read,” in which children can read, for example, “K is for Kangaroo,” and the adult can then share the animal facts associated with the kangaroo. This interactive, back-and-forth reading facilitates literacy in children while also being fun for them. Children and adults alike will enjoy exploring these animals, their lifestyles, and their eating habits.

The author, a teacher who studied early childhood education and the literacy of students in underprivileged schools, makes it a point to use smaller—often three-letter—words when writing the animal facts. These small words, such as “the,” “you,” “see,” and “can,” are some of the first words that kindergarteners learn to read after recognizing the letters of the alphabet. This significantly deepens the usage of this entertaining book both in and out of the classroom. Furthermore, the illustrations are striking yet simple, and kids will enjoy flipping through and finding animals that they recognize.

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