Reviews: (by author)

Marino, Gianna. Zoopa: An Animal Alphabet. San Francisco : Chronicle Books, 2005. $14.95

Remember alphabet soup? You've never seen one come together like this! Gianna Marino's first children's book is a pictorial homage to an extraordinarily animated bowl of tomato soup. It all begins with a humble bowl of plain red soup resting quietly on the blue-and-white checkered tablecloth. Then an ant marches onto the table and the letter A suddenly appears in the soup. So it goes, with each new animal making its way into the picture to the accompaniment of a new letter until the table is a veritable menagerie of colorful, lively creatures and the bowl is filled with alphabet soup. Of course, it gets a little crowded when the little blue elephants start swimming in the soup along with the jellyfish, and the ant sometimes looks a little nervous sharing the table with a frog and an iguana, but for such a diverse assortment of species, everyone seems to be getting along - at least until the zebra shows up.

This is a lovely introduction to the alphabet. The illustrations are simply superb. The animals' varied expressions are infused with whimsical life and the spirit of fun. Text is reserved exclusively for the final pages when each creature is identified by name. Initial letters of each name are stressed on boldface to make the alphabetic association crystal clear for young learners. This excellent picture book is a visual feast in more ways than one.

- Mark Janssen, March 2006

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