Creatures: An Alphabet for Adults and Worldly Children

Barbara Robertson is the author of Wilfrid Laurier: The Great
Conciliator and the co-author of The Well-Filled Cupboard.

Creatures is wildly entertaining. It almost amounts to an illustrated
pocket history of western civilization, touching on many high points. As
the subtitle indicates, this alphabet book is not for the nursery crowd,
but for adults and children in friendly communion. There are plenty of
objects that children will be able to identify—from balloons and
dragons to caterpillars and pirates—and others that adults will be
able to cope with. Still others will elude even the best-educated
adults, for even supposing they can identify the 33 different
butterflies, it seems unlikely they will go on serenely to identify the
nine regiments whose uniforms are splendidly illustrated. Looking at it
together, guessing, poring over the notes, children and adults should be
united by the feeling that there are a lot of wonderful things to be
learned.

The coverage is amazingly broad. Women get their fair share of
attention; there are various Queens, Lizzie Borden, Grandma Moses, and
Judith with the head of Holofernes. Nor is Canada neglected; there is a
beaver, Sir John A. Macdonald, the Canadian Parliament buildings, and a
Mountie. As to the Devil, he makes several appearances—the worldly
child will want to collect his names.

The illustrations are beautiful, energetic, and witty. Altogether this
is a brilliant book. Highly recommended.