Many of Tad Hills's characters make cameos in this humorous approach to the alphabet, starring the beloved canine reader and writer.
With the passion of a convert, Rocket touts the most important tool for reading: learning the ABCs. Each page highlights a different letter in the alphabet, repeated in bold at the start of a string of words: "Rocket finds acorns. Owl draws an angry alligator." On the opposite page, the squirrel from Rocket's 100th Day of School enters with the letter B: "Bella balances on a ball while a big butterfly watches." Owl coaxes a crow to stop cawing by offering it a cookie and a crayon on the next spread, and, with another turn of the page, Emma digs a deep hole in the dirt by the daisies. Even Goose passes through in "the tall green grass." Hills moves between silhouette images (such as Bella before and after playing "in the ivy"--why does it make her itch?), full-spread landscapes of Owl flying kites or with Bella on the beach, and even a vertical view of Bella up in a tree while Rocket, on the ground, "wonders, 'Is it windy up there?' " Yes, xylophone appears for "X" (Bella plays it), and the Little Yellow Bird ends the adventure with "zest and zeal." Hills wraps up with a favorite refrain that Rocket's fans will readily recognize: "Ah, the wondrous, mighty, gorgeous alphabet."
What better teachers could youngsters wish for than Rocket and the Little Yellow Bird to launch their own journeys as readers and writers? --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness