Mrs. Peanuckle's Vegetable Alphabet

September 11, 2017
In one of two titles launching a series of abecedarian board books, the pseudonymous author highlights vegetables (mostly) for each letter of the alphabet. There are some tricky letters, naturally, and readers will either be charmed by or puzzle over entries like “queen bee” for Q or “nasturtium” for N (yes, the flowers are edible, but still...), which appear amid more conventional beans, eggplants, and radishes. Ford’s smiley-faced veggies add to the irreverence of the approach, as do the off-the-cuff descriptions: lima beans “are a lot of work to peel so you should eat all of them.” Good luck with that! Simultaneously available: Mrs. Peanuckle’s Fruit Alphabet. Up to age 3.

January 1, 2018

Baby-Toddler-"A is for Avocado. Bet you thought I'd say apple! Both are fruit because they grow on trees." And so begins the mouth-watering abecedarian that highlights nature's juicy and delectable Fruits. From asparagus to zucchini, the greens get the ABC treatment in the Vegetable entry. Both offerings feature smiling subjects rendered with paint, runny ink, colored pencil, and digital art. The humor mostly hits the mark, and the vivid illustrations just might convert picky eaters.-Shelley M. Diaz, School Library Journal

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