A Is for Awesome

K-Gr 2—With this quirky alphabet book, Clayton provides affirming concepts for each letter: "C is for Confident Cool and Collected/D is for Dreaming things never expected…/Q is for Quiet to escape from the madness/R is for Reading but also for radness." Hand-drawn fonts, which alternate between large, uppercase letters that seem to be made of fur and words in a smaller, not-too-perfect typeface, are clear and easy to read. The book's design-narrow rectangles with plenty of white space-amplifies each featured word and makes it appropriate for building vocabulary. On each page, Clayton surrounds the text with miniature sketches of objects that begin with the featured letter-"H is for Happy to see you today" is paired with a horse, horn, hippo, hamster, harp, etc. The text verges on the trite ("E is for Everything under the sun") and is sometimes nonsensical ("T is for Talking and teaching and trees"), but there's no denying the positive, kid-centric appeal. The attractive illustrations and accessible design make A Is for Awesome a fun addition for most collections.—Nora Clancy, Teachers College Community School, New York City