Lois Ehlert's Eating the Alphabet: Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z contains illustrations of 74 fruits and vegetables, from the everyday apple to the exotic jicama. Each letter of the alphabet is represented in large serif font in uppercase and lowercase and is represented by illustrations of one to eight fruits and vegetables. The illustrations are captioned with spellings of each fruit and vegetable, once in all uppercase and once in all lowercase. The illustrations depict the fruits and vegetables as they appear at the supermarket, even including the wide rubber bands often found on asparagus and broccoli and the cardboard tubs that hold strawberries and blueberries. The bright illustrations are in sharp contrast with the flat, white background. The overall effect of the illustrations and type styling is crisp, clean, and colorful. The book also includes a glossary of fruits and vegetables, with a small picture, pronunciation, designation as fruit and/or vegetable, and a brief description. This glossary is particularly useful for items such as xigua (she-gwah), the Chinese name for watermelon. Children will enjoy learning the more exotic fruits and vegetables. This book will aid children in recognizing letters and the multiple words for each letter allow children to recognize the pattern of sounds associated with each letter.
