Amazon.com (ISBN 0439079470, Paperback)

So wrote Kjell B. Sandved in his introduction to The Butterfly Alphabet. Little did he know that it would take him more than 25 years, with visits to more than 30 countries, to discover and photograph all the letters of the alphabet in butterfly wings. This glorious book is the fruit of his labors. On each spread, you'll find a picture of the whole butterfly or moth and its common name, with a full-page, full-color close-up on the adjacent page of the letter on the creature's tiny wing scales. A gentle poem accompanies the flight from A to Z as well: "On wings aloft across the skies-- / An alphabet of butterflies. / Each butterfly in secret brings / A letter hidden in its wings." A few butterfly basics and a glossary of the species featured in the book close this fascinating, loving, photographic ode to the order Lepidoptera. (Ages 4 to 104) --Karin Snelson