From the bestselling team of Marzollo and Wick comes a fun new way for youngsters to learn their ABCs. Easy-to-read riddles are paired with 46 object-filled photos to create the most engaging alphabet book ever.
I Spy: A to Z is a great introduction to the I Spy books and games for your little one, since it offers so many different ways to learn. This is a book parents and children can read and discuss together, or kids can spend time with on their own searching the pictures for new treasures. The pictures are colorful photographs of collages and scenes made from odds and ends of everyday life; pictures of everything from a thimble and jacks to snowflakes and candy!
Interspersed within the sentences are pictures of certain words; for example, if the sentence is "I spy a lamp," then a small picture of a lamp is right next to the word. This helps children to begin associating words with what they spell out. After you've read the book a few times, you can start saying, "I spy a _____" and let them fill in the missing word, based on the picture they see. Because the lines also rhyme, after a read through or two, you can pause before saying the final word and let your little one supply it, based on the picture and knowing that it will rhyme with the previous sentence. Each page also colors all uses of the same letter red, and a different letter is focused on in each page. You are encouraged to say the sound of that letter aloud and see how it sometimes sounds slightly different when used in different words. For example, 'a' sounds a little different in 'apple' than it does in 'grape.'
Sam and I read this book when he was three, and he was mesmerized by the photos. He spent 40 minutes one afternoon just flipping through them on his own and occasionally telling me what he found in the pictures. Can you imagine? A three year-old entertained himself for 40 minutes?! By the time I read the story to him a second time, he was able to point out where all of the items in the sentences were in the pictures above.
--Audra