Alphabet Books Featuring Letter Form

Since I work with children who often have difficulty learning to identify letters, I look for books that focus on the shapes of letters in a way that may help kids remember them. These alphabet books encourage the reader to linger on the pictured letter to see in the letter what the author/illustrator sees.

The Human Alphabet
Pilobolus Dance Company
Photographs by John Kane

At first I thought this book might kind of creepy, but when I began to examine it, I found it fascinatingly beautiful. Each letter of the alphabet (capitals only) is illustrated in the corner of its page with dancers in solid color leotards. The main photograph on the page shows dancers positioned to illustrate an animal or object that begins with the letter. It takes a moment of study to determine what the object is. The photographs are delightful and much fun to figure out. My favorites include the octopus made up of four dancers in various gradients of pink and purple, eight legs flowing out from the head, and the dinosaur, a T-Rex to be exact, created from a carefully balanced group of dancers in harlequin-type costumes. See how long it takes you to figure out the illustration for M! Use pipe cleaners for children to create their own letters.


The Turn-Around, Upside-Down Alphabet Book
by Lisa Campbell Ernst

The brilliantly colored block letters and their backgrounds in this book are the inspiration for what letters look like when turned upside down or sideways. "B masquerades as a pair of goggles, half a butterfly, two windows in a castle tower." The words are written on all sides of the graphic, oriented so the reader sees each incarnation. Children love this kind of visual game, and will be delighted by the references: C as macaroni and cheese, O as a fried egg, Y as a garden snake's open mouth. Stamps or stencils on colorful squares of paper can inspire kids to make their own designs from letters. Or let them try drawing special alphabet letters that look like bones, sticks or lightning bolts using the "Awesome Alphabets" book below.

Tangram Alphabet: Building Letters With Tangrams
by Janis Poe

Tangrams are puzzle pieces that form a square when put together one way, and offer thousands of other possibilities when assembled other ways. The goal is to use all seven of the pieces to create a picture of an animal, person, object, or, of course, a letter of the alphabet. This book is not a story, but a puzzle book. Each letter is shown as a blank outline that the tangram pieces can fit into if placed a certain way; the next page shows the solution. This very hands-on alphabet book will be challenging for older or more able children, while using the solution page to place the tangrams makes the task accessible for children who aren't ready to figure it out on their own yet.


Story Props for Alphabet Books Featuring Letter Forms

Hidden Alphabet Books

As a teacher, I look for alphabet books that can hold young children's interest and attention through all 26 letters. Books that have hidden letters for children to find and pictures that are either evocative or very detailed do the trick. When children study the shape of a letter then try to find that form in a picture, they are holding it in their memories longer. This can help children who struggle associating the visual symbol with a name and sound, a critical reading skill. These books are also interesting enough for those who already know letters and their sounds, and help to model one way to organize information in a book, a writing skill.

Pigs From A to Z
by Arthur Geisert
This alphabet book looks bland initially, but the sepia colored etchings are fascinating in their intricacy. The pictures, showing pigs building a tree house, hide several examples of the featured letter. There are some that are easy to find and a few that are more difficult on each page.

Discovering Nature's Alphabet
by Krystina Castella and Brian Boyl

The photographs in this book are of letter forms discovered in the natural lines of rocks, trees, plants, etc. The photographs are well composed and lovely to look at. From a teaching perspective, I particularly like that there are several examples of each letter, so children will see the commonality of the letter shapes and get repetition of these important symbols. The letters in the pictures beg to be traced by little fingers learning to write.

Alphab'art
by Anne Guery and Olivier Dussutour

Not yet released in the U.S., this book contains 26 lovely photographs of paintings of renowned artists. Each hides a letter of the alphabet while exposing children to fine art. A nice way to reinforce letter shapes and introduce children to famous artists like Picasso, Dali and Van Gogh and lesser known masters as well.



Story Props for Hidden Alphabet Books