Ellsworth's Extraordinary Electric Ears and Other Amazing Alphabet Anecdotes - Hardcover

Fisher, Valorie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689850301 ISBN 13: 9780689850301

Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2003

Synopsis

Using plastic toys, paper, tin, and dollhouse furniture, an unusual three-dimensional alphabet adventure takes young readers into a delightful world where Alistair, an acrobat with an alarming appetite for alligators, waves to Wilbur as he works with wallpaper.

About this title

Review

Tired of plain vanilla ABC books? Apple, ball, cat... Here's a witty charmer that you'll like as much--if not more--as your kids do. Valorie Fisher's Ellsworth's Extraordinary Electric Ears features a single, perfectly arranged diorama in homage to every letter. Plastic figurines, paper cutouts, tiny clay sculptures, and artfully repurposed everyday objects (see Holly's "humble handbag home") populate each cheery scene, all filled to bursting with items beginning with the designated letter. (On the "C" page, there are at least 20 different things beginning with the letter "C".) Even better than the silly tableaux are the breathless alliterations accompanying each scene. Just try to read them without adding aural italics and exclamation points galore: "Nigel's nifty newspaper neckties were nothing but a naughty nuisance," "Vacationing in the valley of a violent volcano was very invigorating for Violet," and "Zelda's zigzagged zebra was the zippiest at the zoo" are among the best.

The book is beautifully suited both to very young kids who are in full noun-acquisition mode as well as to older children who've become adept at matching images and words beginning with specific letters. For example, the "L" page features several items a toddler could pick out--lion, ladder, lemons--without fully understanding that these things are grouped together because they start with the same letter. There are also less readily named items in the picture: a llama, a laundry basket, and a locomotive. And then there's the book's grownup appeal: "Pepita's pink paper parasols were particularly popular with pirates." Check out all the swarthy, half-dressed pirate figurines clutching paper drink umbrellas and see how long it takes you to start planning a theme party around your favorite letter of the alphabet. (Ages 2 to 6) --Jennifer Lindsay

About the Author

Valorie Fisher is the author and illustrator of My Big Brother and My Big Sister, both Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award winners; and Ellsworth's Extraordinary Electric Ears, called "sassy" in a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Her photographs have been widely exhibited and are in many major museum collections, including the Brooklyn Museum, London's Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Ms. Fisher lives in Cornwall Bridge, Connecticut, with her husband and two children.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0689850301
• ISBN 13: 9780689850301
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Fisher Valorie