Witty wordplay is the centerpiece of a rhyming caper that gives a fond nod to William Steig's C D B!
Involving a search for buried treasure conducted by the letters of the alphabet, the story line takes a back seat to nonstop, laugh-out-loud punning and Chesworth's (Archibald Frisby) clever integration of language and art. One morning, the letter "i," while sipping "t" with "sweet Mellow D," hears of buried treasure on a faraway island. He builds a ship ("The Alphaboat must have a crew!/ i, m coming, u, r, too"), and the aforementioned lowercase letters board the vessel preceded by fancy capitals T, C and A ("So everybody knows his place/ the officers are uppercase"). Each page overflows with jokes, ranging from groaners to the sneakily subtle. The sailors squabble as they disembark, "Hey! i before e!" "Except after C"; foul weather is described as a "nasty scrawl" and rendered as a sepia cloud of illegible script ("A cursive storm," wails a passenger via a voice bubble). With a restrained pen and watercolors in natural, muted tones, Chesworth effectively juxtaposes an 18th-century nautical ambience with comical, pun-infused caricatures. This brain-teasing voyage through the alphabet should tickle the newly literate and old salts as well. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)
