Alfie Explores A to Z: A Seek-and-Find Adventure

Bespectacled bookworm Alfie invites readers on a surreal seek-and-find adventure to uncover his bestie, bow-wearing dust bunny Betty, in Drew’s absorbing debut. Working letter-by-letter through an entire Latin alphabet of story worlds, Alfie’s search is one of near misses as it takes him to a Hydra’s House Party Hootenanny and an Ice Cream Island, and sees him encounter “bobsledding barracudas” and a “nimble numbat ninja.” Accompanying each letter’s rhyming, four-quatrain poem (“Space is certainly spacious!/ And spreading, so it seems./ Betty slips from Alfie’s sight,/ but he sees her in his dreams”) are slick, photorealistic digital depictions of the verse’s many alliterative mentions, plus an abundance of additional examples that similarly lean into the absurd. Betty is hidden throughout the spreads, her size making her difficult to spot. Luckily, back matter provides a guide to her whereabouts and each picture’s alphabet-appropriate items—the very quantity of which guarantees rereads. Ages 4–8. (Nov.)