By Jingo http://www.fishpond.com.au/Books/By-Jingo-Janeen-Brian-Dee-Huxley/9780733315060

An Alphabet of Animals

By Janeen Brian, Dee Huxley

Reviews

This rhyming alphabet book has appealing illustrations and some funny rhymes. It is set out simply with each letter shown in lower and upper case, a pictured animal with its name in print, and a rhyme about the animal. These features are useful for teaching young children the alphabet. The font used is not an authorised Australian handwriting style but the letters are easily recognisable. The key word-an animal-on each page provides an opportunity for young readers to 'read' by guessing the meaning from the illustration (if they can't already read it). The word is reinforced as it is re-read in the rhyming text. Unfortunately, the rhyme is sometimes forced, largely caused by awkward word choice and positioning. Consequently, reading By Jingo! is sometimes like rolling along a path and then being bumped off in another direction. The ideas behind many of the rhymes are clever and fun, however. The illustrator poses the animals humorously and often from an interesting perspective. For alphabet book aficionados, the problematic letter 'X' is in 'eXtra'; those extra teeth that replace blunt sharks' teeth. Joy Lawn is the children's literature consultant at Coaldrake's Bookshop in Brisbane C. 2005 Thorpe-Bowker and contributors