ABC's by Charley Harper

ABC's by Charley Harper
Rating: 4.5 stars

I only know a little about artist Charley Harper and his very neat, very fun illustrations.  I've seen the match-up game version of this simple ABC book in Anthropologie, my favorite clothing store ever, so I give him posthumous props for finding his way into their stylish doors.

Ben especially loves this book, and it's inspired him to say a few new words--just basic stuff like "bird" and "dog."  Hey, I'll take that!  I don't know what happened to X, though...instead of a cool bug or animal like the rest of the letters, there are a bunch of water bugs and you're supposed to find all the Xs.  This confuses Lorelei and Ben a bit.  Anyway, we can get over that minor foible.  We also trace the letters with our fingers, and we love the front and back flaps with all of the smaller images clustered in tightly together. 

We got ours from the library, but this is a great birthday book for a first birthday--what library is complete without at least one ABC book?  Our other favorites, which include more text than this one, include Dr Suess' ABC and LMNO Peas by Keith Baker.  Love those!