ABC

Priscilla Galloway was an English consultant in Willowdale, Ontario.

Elizabeth Cleaver’s brilliant illustrations have won for her Canada’s most prestigious awards, including the Canada Council Children’s Literature Prize, and the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon medal.

Cleaver’s ABC is recommended for ages 3 to 5; it’s a small book, comfortable for small hands. It’s also exciting; Cleaver’s talents as a collage artist and children’s book illustrator are wonderfully combined; here are 26 ingenious collages, each one depicting the items listed on the facing page. “Dd” for instance, lists “daisies, dog, dragonfly, duck.” Opposite, a spotted dog barks at a blue and gold dragonfly. Three daisies are green, gold and white against sapphire sky and emerald grass; a golden duck with red beak and feet stares at a huge red D, outlined in white. The illustrations are brilliant without being busy. Unlikely combinations brought about by the different letters will delight children and adults. How does it end? The zebra emerges from a zipper, of course!