This version of Edward Lear's poem presents fun complementary images for each letter.

Age: 1+

Skill: Letter knowledge (Each alphabet letter is explored.)

A real 'whale' of a tale.

GREAT book to use when introudcing ABCs and commas in a series. This book is great for beginning and emerging readers. I would use this book for a lesson on the alphabet and commas in a series. Appropriate for grades K-1st.

I was surprised by this one. So silly and so perfect. It might be just another ABC book, but it's sillier than all the others.

My one complaint as I read it was that I wished each letter had its own page or spread. Also, I would love to see this in board book format.

I enjoyed the illustrations, but I didn't care at all for the poem. I'm all for silliness, but I prefer real words if I'm reading to the kiddos. Personal preference.

A fun alphabet book to read aloud with a good rhyming/sing-songy quality.

A silly, rhymy alphabet book that was thoroughly enjoyed by the kindergarten.

Awards: None

Grade Level: 1-2

Summary:
This is a playful book about various things that starts with each letter of the alphabet. Most of the things mentioned are are animals such as bear, cat, dog, eel, fish, jaybird, mouse, pig, quail, skunk, turkey, unicorn, whale, yak and zebra. Each line of the book starts with " ___ was once a little".

Review:
Although this book is very simply I don't find it very enjoyable. It is great practice for children learning the letters in the alphabet. On the bright side the illustrations are excellent.

Uses:
This book could be used to reinforce the letters in the alphabet.
Another use could be to have the children think of animals that begin with the vowel letters and draw them as a connection to the book.

Title: A Was Once An Apple Pie
Author: Edward Lear
Illustrator: Suse Macdonald
Genre: Alphabet Book
Theme(s): Alphabet, Rhyming

Opening line/sentence:
A was once an apple pie,
Pidy,widy,tidy,pidy
Nice insidy, apple pie!
Brief Book Summary:
The book progresses through the letters of the alphabet providing a word that starts with the same letter and then a rhyme. The letters of the alphabet are linked together through the illustrations on the open pages.

Professional Recommendation/Review #1:
Karin Snelson (Booklist, Aug. 1, 2005 (Vol. 101, No. 22))
Caldecott Honor artist MacDonald has adapted and illustrated Edward Lear's beloved 1871 nonsensical alphabet.This engaging read-aloud is certainly fun; Lear's adapted jolly singsong alphabet goes Technicolor with Eric Carle-style cut paper collage illustrations, mostly of friendly-looking animals. Unfortunately, however, some of the oomph has been extracted from the wonderfully quirky, time-tested poem. The Great King Xerxes entry, so mighty and intriguing in the original, is replaced by a more milquetoast rhyme about an ox (and no, ox is does not start with x.) Cat replaces Lear's cake with a string of adjectives (catty, batty, matty, catty) instead of the clever, action-oriented "caky / baky / maky / caky / taky / caky, Little-cake!" Pump replaces pig, unicorn replaces urn, and zebra replaces zinc, as if children won't be intrigued by objects they may have never seen. Poetry purists, reach instead for Vladimir Radunsky's An Edward Lear Alphabet. Nonpurist book lovers and preschool storytime readers, embrace this colorful introduction to Lear's classic poem.

Professional Recommendation/Review #2:
Tina Dybvik (Children's Literature)
These read-aloud nonsense rhymes are a nice introduction to birds and animals with a few inanimate objects also thrown in (including the title of the rhyme). This is a classic alphabet book with no story line. It is all about fun with pictures and words. Hand-painted illustrations appear on every page in primary colors that appeal to young children. Preschoolers will recognize common images like cats and dogs and learn about less familiar creatures like eels and quail. The list-filled poems are easy to memorize and encourage reading alone, and a string of rhyming words on every page-- nesty, besty, zesty, nesty --promotes sounding out of the first letter. It is a nice book for teachers to place in their reading centers, or for grandparents to have on hand when the kids come to visit. There is not much to dislike in this classic text, and MacDonald s illustrations are sure to please.

Response to Two Professional Reviews:
Both of these reviews touch upon the fact that the book makes great use of animals to help illustrate letters. Children seem to have an innate interest in animals of all shapes and sizes, and using them to help teach letters could be a powerful tool. Both reviews also touch upon the illustrations in the book and how they contribute a positive, playful atmosphere to the book. The reviews differ however, on how they feel the string of rhyming words on every page impacts the reader. Snelson writes that Macdonald took away from the original rhymes, while Dybvik writes that the words add to the book.

Evaluation of Literary Elements:
This book was written with its audience in mind. The author knows that this is a book to help young students try to grasp the abstract concept of words being represented on a page, and the style is kept simple to accommodate this task. The rhyming sequences on each page are an interesting addition. Using these, you could teach your children about rhyming and they could also work on sounding words out as the ending of each word is the same. Because the ending of each word in the sequence is the same, it frees up the child’s mind to focus on just the first letter and what sound it makes. As with any alphabet book, the plot is minimal as to make sure the children are focusing on the letters and aren’t distracted by anything else.

Consideration of Instructional Application:
This story would be ideal for young children, I would say mostly kindergarten or preschool aged. One lesson the teacher could possibly carry out would be giving the children cut outs of the letters and having each child raise their letter when the book got to them. Additionally, each child could draw what their letter corresponds to after reading the book which could help the child with letter identification.

Read at Baby Lap Time on 4/22/11.

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This book can be a very good tool because it uses so much rhyming! It is also a very silly book, i read it to my pre-k kids and they could not stop laughing it!

Another book to feed my ABC fanatic. I'm quite an enabler. This one is kind of a tongue twister, but not as bad as Tumble Me Tumbly, and much better. I think I had to read this one twice in a row the first time- always the sign of a winner.