Gyo Fujikawa's A to Z Picture Book Hardcover – Picture Book, September 7, 2010

My 3 year old grandson loves to look at the pictures. He loves all books by this author/illustrator.

My daughter was given this book when she was little and she thoroughly enjoyed it. The illustrations alone are worth the price, but the choices used to illustrate the letters are not the usual common ones. Oh, there might be an umbrella on the U page, but there will be many other delightful and some unusual examples as well. I gave this book to my granddaughter and now to my grandson and I may give one to myself just to enjoy with visiting children. Also, to be sure I have one if they get hard to find. Delightful and different ABC book. This author has a book of children's poetry with the same type of whimsical illustrations and I can recommend that one as well, especially for children who are past the A to Z phase.

This is a nice A-Z picture book with some great images. It just has five faults in my opinion:1. On the pages that introduce each letter, the pictures are all black and white drawings. The drawings are well done - absolutely gorgeous for some objects, but it would have been better if these drawings were actually in color. Plus, some letters get two paged intro spreads and other letters only get 1 page spreads. I prefer books that are consistent.2. The 2 pages after introducing a letter (or letter pair), focuses on one word with a colored image/scene. Some of these pages are exceptionally charming and express the depth of a particular word like alone and numbers.... However, the format changes throughout the book with more than one word per colored page so the image becomes a compilation just like the intro letter pages and the depth / beauty of the artwork is lost... Plus, not every letter gets a color image page which is a travesty as it should have been the best part of the book.3. Quite a number of the the words included are beyond a child's vocabulary. I mean how many kids these days know or should know edelweiss, bobolink, amaryllis, kookaburra? Do you even know that those are two types of flowers and two types of birds? I am a biologist and teach college level courses and even I don't use those words regularly... and the only reason I know the first word is because of the movie the "Sound of Music."4. Kids learn the alphabet between ages 2-4. These are pre-school children who are mostly looking at the pictures. Unfortunately, three images in this book are grossly inappropriate for that age group. In the colored pages D for dreams... one child is having a nightmare of a demon and the image is particularly disturbing - even my husband thought it was far too scarey even for a 6-year old. The colored pages H is for Halloween has a witch which is scarey but less so than the nightmarish demon - the terrified kids on the page though is what got to me. H could have stood for happiness or holidays or hopping.... why did the book have to go to a scarey version of Halloween for little ones? Also the colored pages for M include three "mean and marvelous monsters." Again the images are scarey especially if the text calls them "mean" and they are heading toward a little boy... If I saw that image as a child, I would have been terrified. Sure there is a slight hint of humor in how the monsters were drawn and the boy's face does not look scared... but it would not have mattered to my 2-6 year old mind. My solution was to tape these scarey pages together and hide the images. It did not obscure any of the other pages that were not scarey. Normally I don't alter books in any way, but it was the only way I would be able to use this book with my son when he learns the alphabet.5. The colored T page has a number of objects drawn upside down which is going to be a bit confusing to a little one... I think the 2-page spread was showing "Topsy-turvy" but that is not something commonly understood by today's children.. the only reason i know the term or idea is from seeing Disney's "Hunchback of Notre-dam."Overall, the book is cute (except for the 3 scarey pages). However, I still like the ABC Dover coloring books better though they are not in color... and have not found a hardback ABC book that I truly like.

High Quality! The illustrations, choice of words, and overall presentation in this book is amazing. I remember LOVING this book as a child, so much that it must have stuck in my head because when I had my baby I couldn't wait to find this gem and share it with him. He's only 2 months old and it absolutely captivates his attention beyond anything I've seen. He literally "reads" this book because its made up of so many descriptive images. We spend minutes on each page, and I can tell that the images and scenes are engaging his mind because he reacts accordingly. For example, the colored J page is of a bunch of babies and animals jumping. He always starts to bounce and jump when we get to this page. Just amazing!

I love this reprint of a childhood classic. I do wish the original cover from the 70's edition was still in use as it was more ethnically diverse, a point of all the artwork in this book that is challenging to find even in contemporary publications.The artwork is divine and sparks the imagination of everyone that I've seen read through this lovely book.I love that this book isn't just about cutesy things in life, it also includes ideas like "lonely", "nightmares and dreams" which brings an emotional groundedness into a child's world :)I give a copy of this to every friend that has a baby and I hope it will continue to be cherished for generations.

The illustrations are completely dreamy and the text introduces a lot of new words that aren't often used in everyday conversation. Both my 18 month old and 3 year old really enjoy it.

Excellent for youngsters. This is a classic book with delightful illustrations that will please both kids and their parents. We've given it as a gift several times and have heard nothing but raves about it.

I used this book to make the connection between images and the written word for my son when he was 1 1/2 years old. He could read by the time he was 2. I tried the same thing with my daughter, but she was not interested (didn't work). Both have proven to be bright adults, but very different.If you have a child who shows an aptitude for noticing business logos and the connection between images and meaning, I think this book can be a bridge to knowledge and a real blessing. I recommend you try it and see for yourself. Otherwise it is just a fun picture book to learn the names of things for little kids. I think ages 1 1/2 to 7 are appropriate.Enjoy

Gorgeous .Bought one for my grandaughter and another for a christening present. Grows with the child as there is so much to talk about on every page!

This lovely book with illustrations by Gyo Fujikawa has you turning and returning the pages. A wonderful book for shared reading, it is packed full of charming illustrations with plenty of detail to enrich the learning process.

I grew up reading these books and have many fond memories of my sisters and I looking at all the images. I still enjoy looking through them. My 4 year old does not spend a lot of time with them, however, she has soooo many books and I think these are just forgotten on her shelves. They are beautiful just the same lined up on her bookshelf and I am so happy to have them in her room. She also has the ones I grew up with.

Lo trovo meraviglioso. Fa sognare di tempi passati e di infanzia spensierata. Metà delle pagine sono in bianco e nero, anch'esse con illustrazioni bellessime. Consiglio di aggiungerlo alla propria collezione di libri preziosi in lingua inglese

Beautiful book! The drawings are wonderfully detailed and each letter also gets an extra page with a short poem. It's a large book, not a board book with sturdy pages, so parents should turn pages. L