The Crab Alphabet Book

A collection of crabs, “tired of books about cute penguins, proud tigers, colorful butterflies, and other favorite animals,” help to narrate this quirky ABC book. Leonard illustrates in naturalistic art, while Pallotta, the author of many abecedarians, introduces each crab in upbeat, fact-filled paragraphs: “J is for Japanese Spider Crab.... Its legs can be more than six feet long. Wow!” Additional facts (“And now a message from the crabs”) are offset from the main text: “Most crabs have eyes like periscopes.” While many of the crabs’ missives are more irreverent than edifying (“Please don’t call a grumpy teacher a crabby teacher—it’s not nice!”), readers will enjoy learning about the peculiar-looking and often uniquely named (Halloween crab, ghost crab, ninja crab) decapods. Ages 3–7. [em](Feb.) [/em]