Murphy's (How Kind!) laugh-out-loud, alphabetic flight of fancy recalls Michael Chesworth's recent witty Alphaboat. Here anthropomorphic letters use clever wordplay to outsmart a stern zookeeper-like caretaker (donned in drab overcoat, pumps and flowered hat) who keeps the unruly 26 in a cage. The letters' escape leads to a hilarious, book-long chase scene. " 'I'll get you!' shouts the Alphabet Keeper, fixing her hat. But c
pushes h
away... and turns her hat
into a cat, and the Alphabet Keeper can't see" (thanks to the grinning feline dangling over her eyes). "Then h
jumps back and turns the cat
into a chat....
'Awful weather' 'Indeed' 'Well, well,' " the keeper blathers, much to her chagrin. Murphy defines her comical conspiring subjects in a thick, wavy black line, filled in with flat swaths of aqua, periwinkle and sage green; small indentations indicate mouths and blue circles serve as eyeballs. Her light, cartoonish touch accentuates the slapstick, as when the Keeper's shout of "stop!"
changes to pots
that land—where else—on her own head. Beginning readers will laugh heartily and may well pick up a few key phonics lessons along the way. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)
