AN EDWARD LEAR ALPHABET

PLB 0-06-028114-6 An Edward Lear Alphabet (32 pp.; $14.95, PLB $14.89; Apr. 30; 0-06-028113-8, PLB 0-06-028114-6): By injecting Lear’s alphabet with vivid shots of color and joyful graphics, Radunsky blasts this Victorian verse into the 21st century. For some readers, Lear’s rhymes on their own border on precious: “J was once a jar of jam/Jammy/Mammy/Clammy/Jammy/Sweet Swammy/Jar of Jam.” However, juxtaposed with an acid-blue background, topped with a bright yellow lid, and designated with a green and orange letter J, this jam jar jumps. The colors and graphics add a very effective jolt to this silly, quite old, ABC. (Picture book. 3-6)