Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011...9:28 am
LMNO peas by Keith Baker
LMNO peas by Keith Baker
PPF Primary Picture Fiction
Suggested Reading Early years to KS1
From School Library Journal
Humble green peas provide inspiration in this hilarious, occupation-based romp through the alphabet. Four-inch-high letters on each page serve as an ingenious architectural platform around, above, and inside of which dozens of “pea-ple” swarm in joyful pursuit of myriad types of work. Bouncy, rhyming text introduces the alphabet peas as “acrobats, artists, and astronauts in space, builders, bathers, and bikers in a race,” with unpaid “voters and volunteers” receiving their due, too. Baker’s inventive details belie the “as alike as two peas in a pod” adage; each and every amusing personalized pea is as unique as a snowflake—and that’s the point. The digitally rendered illustrations glow in vibrant, textured colors that boldly leap off the page against a background of ample white space. The sheer fun of the rhythmic text and the large alphabet letters work well for a read-aloud audience, but the busy, engaging details of the peas in their various worker modes are better suited for one-on-one exploration that young children will want to pore over again and again.—Kathleen Finn, St. Francis Xavier School, Winooski, VT
