The Invisible Alphabet

August 1, 2020
Sights unseen define this ABC book. "A is for Air / B is for Bare // C is for Clear." These are the first three lines of text on the first two double-page spreads of this clever abecedary. Corresponding illustrations show, respectively: an open window with curtains blowing in the breeze; a child getting into a bathtub, naked backside toward readers; and fish swimming in an aquarium. Ensuing pages continue to use text to name what is invisible, with art somehow evoking the unseen. City-dwelling children will understand the tableau for "D is for delayed," in which a group of commuters stand at a bus stop, drifting autumn leaves underscoring the absence of the bus; evoking the other side of that particular experience, "J is for Just missed it" depicts a different set of commuters hustling toward the edge of the page, a cloud of exhaust and zoom lines indicating the departed bus. One page, "N is for Nothing," is utterly empty except for the text, which recalls the "Goodnight nobody" page from Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd's famed Goodnight Moon. Visual connections among some spreads--such as the bus-stop scenes--lend cohesion to the book as a whole, and Barrett's vigorously crosshatched pen-and-ink art with orange highlights has an appropriately minimalist look even in crowded spreads. Humans depicted are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.3-by-16-inch double-page spreads viewed at 37% of actual size.) Make sure to see this A+ alphabet book. (Picture book. 3-7)

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September 18, 2020

Gr 2-5-This picture book asks readers to take a deep breath about their preconceived notions about the ABCs. "D is for Delayed. E is for Erased." What is not seen is at the center of the conceit, so that words live just enough in the abstract to delight more advanced thinkers, but will paralyze young children. Bewildered fish in a bowl of water with miniature shipwrecks stand in for C, for "Clear." "J is for Just missed it," as a gent with flowers and a musician chase the bus. "O is for out," with an empty box of cereal (and we don't see a person, but a bowl and spoon is at the ready, so why not H for "hungry"? The correlations between event or notion and the word choice are often outright arbitrary, sometimes hinting at a bigger story-"Y is for Yesterday" shows a white boy beaming and covered in bandages, perhaps recalling adventures in skateboarding from the day before. It's a cynical packaging of a random collection of words that leaves out order, arc, momentum, story, or sense-something "microscopic," for M, is actually visible in a way that "Just missed it" is not. The mood is portentous and points toward a disaster that never arrives: Gone. Hidden. Lost. Nothing. Popped (a balloon). A happy scene of a smiling Black child who has just blown out her birthday candles ("X is for eXtinguished") follows a possible drowning, and T is for "too late," when a child and parent arrive at a bus stop. VERDICT An additional purchase aimed at the art shelves and not preschoolers. For primary graders, turn it into a lesson on how to create alphabets, or work with younger children one-on-one to connect the letters and words to what is happening on the page.-Kimberly Olson Fakih, School Library Journal

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 13, 2020
Preschool-Grade 1 This alphabet book's clever gambit is that it is devoted to the unseen. Clear, hidden, lost, quiet, and secret are a few of the abstract nouns and concepts presented in classic "I is for Invisible" style. Barrett's illustrations do the heavy lifting, conjuring something out of nothing with scenes that emphasize absence or the intangible. Consequently, his art makes adept use of white space, which he adorns with black pen cross-hatching and pops of orange that form people caught in medias res. There is plenty of room for youngsters to imagine what has transpired, perhaps postulating why a mother and daughter are running late (and carrying flowers) when all they find at the "J is for Just missed it" bus stop is a cloud of exhaust. This abecedary is one of the titles launching Penguin Workshop's new RISE imprint, which is dedicated to creating books for the preschool audience. While the vocabulary and concepts tackled in these pages are best suited to the older end of the preschool spectrum, its illustrations will please all ages.

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