ANIMAL ALPHABED

As a young child is tucked under her animal quilt, she realizes that one of the animals is missing. So begins an abecedarian search that will have all the animals coming to life and leading her on an adventure. Unfortunately, while the concept is creative, its execution is very poor. The search is so convoluted that young readers will get lost along the way, just as the main character does when she repeatedly loses track of her mission. The mixes of different rhythms and rhymes make this a difficult read aloud, for both the reader and the listener. Punctuation adds to the difficulty. Some of the rhymes are forced, others seem to be used just for the rhyme and not because they move the plot along. Emery’s illustrations accurately reflect the silliness of the text, including the hints to look for the missing animal on certain pages. Nevertheless, even this element of fun will not rescue this effort. This tortuous bedtime search for a missing animal is one to miss. (Picture book. 4-7)