Alphabeasts

An alphabet book like no other from the unique imagination of Wallace Edwards, now reissued for a new generation of readers.

This new edition of the Governor General’s Award–winning Alphabeasts celebrates the weirdly wonderful imagination of a beloved Canadian artist, the late Wallace Edwards. A new generation of young readers (and adults) will delight in this truly extraordinary alphabet book, discovering animals from A to Z living together in an old Victorian mansion. There’s an elephant in the ballroom playing with a model train, an octopus hanging from the foyer chandelier – and even a zebra enjoying a soak in the bathtub!

Using watercolors and colored pencils in his inimitable style, Wallace Edwards created a bizarre and luxurious world rich in color and texture, with details that readers will pore over. Timeless and engaging, this witty and surreal mix of art and alphabet book is a true gift for those discovering it for the first time.

Wallace Edwards (1957-2022), was a beloved and award-winning Canadian children's book creator with an international reputation for his rich and quirky depictions of animals both real and fantastic. His first children's picture book, Alphabeasts, won the 2002 Governor General's Award for Children's Literature --- Illustration. Wallace's third book, Mixed Beasts, was also shortlisted for the Governor General's Award and won the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Award. His work garnered many awards and honors, including two Independent Publisher Book Awards, a CLA Honour Book, two OLA Best Bets and inclusion on the International Youth Library White Ravens list. He also created artwork for magazines, posters and the Toronto Zoo.