ABC Americana from the National Gallery of Art.

Presents, in alphabetical order, twenty-six watercolor paintings done during the Depression of items in the Index of American Design, a graphic archive of American decorative arts.

Kindergarten-Grade 6-- This alphabet book is not for preschoolers just learning their letters. It is a selection of pictures from the Art Index of American Design, a federal work project in the 1930s and '40s which recorded American folk art. The lovely reproductions are arranged in alphabetical order, one per page and framed in a simple border. A large letter is centered above the object with identification below. This book is better shared by an adult who can explain some of the possibly confusing pictures. For example, the roosters for the letter R are a part of the design of a hooked rug; the saddle is an unusual and unfamiliar style; and the zigzag pattern for Z is used on a needlepoint purse. Nevertheless, this is an attractive and well-designed book which could be used as additional source material for American history units. --Nancy Kewish, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Cleveland
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

That this alphabet of objects--culled from the Index of American Design, a graphic archive of this country's design and folk art--is a worthy offering is unquestionable. Rubin has assembled 26 meticulously crafted paintings from as many watercolorists; the paintings were commissioned during the Depression as a federal work project and produced in 1935-42. The Index itself is a national treasure, but so, in no small way, is this alphabet, which distills periods of American history into icons of both nostalgic and immediate power: "F is for Figurehead" recalls the whaling days of yore; "G is for Glasses" shows spectacles hanging from a bar, so that young readers must imagine the shop below, while adults will be reminded of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby ; "Q is for Quilt" bursts across the page, a star framed by four American flags; and "S is for Saddle" conjures up the Old West, even as it hints that the rough-riding cowboys had a bit of the aesthete in them. What children will notice first is the splendid array of toylike items: a horse, a fierce-faced marionette, a shiny etched trumpet, an Uncle Sam bank, a Civil War drum. This collection is everything Florence Cassen Mayer's Museum ABC books were meant to be but far more accessible, far more capable of surprising readers. Not only a distinguished alphabet book, it is also an exceptional children's book, a piquant blend of fact and fancy that will stir all who come across it. All ages.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.