Mrs. Peanuckle's Bug Alphabet

January 1, 2018
Third in a series of alphabet books from the pseudonymous Mrs. Peanuckle, this board book offers a lighthearted look at 26 insects, from ant to zorapteran. The bugs are introduced in “A is for...” form, paired with pleasantly textured digital illustrations and chatty commentary. Most of these extra details fall into the category of intriguing trivia, but a couple are misleading (a dragonfly’s head is described as “one big eye”) or not entirely substantiated by science, namely the debatable claim that a rhinoceros beetle “can lift 850 times its own weight.” Simultaneously available: Mrs. Peanuckle’s Flower Alphabet. Up to age 3.

July 1, 2018
From Ant to Zorapteran, each page presents a variety of insects, both commonplace and obscure.Narrator Mrs. Peanuckle, who enjoys sharing her likes and dislikes and writing about herself in the third person, has penned one to two sentences of quirky description and interesting facts for each insect representing a different letter of the alphabet: "L is for Ladybug / The loveliest of insects. They help Mrs. Peanuckle by eating the bugs on her roses!" The text often takes up most of the page and employs a different typeface per word, thus making the pages difficult to scan--often the featured letter of the alphabet merges with the name of the insect ("Inchworm" looks as though it has two I's, for example). Ford's lively insects skitter around the words in luminescent color; as with any effective insect book, there's just enough detail to provoke interest without an ick-response. The companion book, Mrs. Peanuckle's Flower Alphabet, presents blooms from Aster to Zinnia, with the same formula but with a more winsome approach to the art; here many of the flowers sport smiling faces in the same bold color palette.Youngsters will enjoy the playful art if they aren't overwhelmed by the busy design. (Board book. 2-5)

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