Rodney Peppé (1934–2022)

This vibrantly illustrated alphabet book takes the reader on a journey through the letters, connecting the one letter and animal to the one on the facing page. The sensible connections are sometimes surprising, like "This is an Elephant. (next page) He is lost in the Forest.) The bright, jewel-tones, graphic illustrations are eye-catching and delightful, sure to enchant children and adults for many readings.

The nine - member Mice family makes baskets for merchant D. Rat, who pays them so little that they never have enough money for food. To earn extra money, the mice decide to enter the Flying Circus contest. So, with the help of two brothers from the Aero Club (named Orville and Wilbur, of course), the mice create a flying basket. As the contestants perform, the villain appears Baron von Rathoven, whose flying dart "had a nasty habit of crashing into other aircraft." The flying basket performs show more wonderfully, but it is attacked by the Rat Baron who nearly destroys it but instead lands in a muddy pond after failing to down the mice. The Baron is revealed to be D. Rat, of course. All ends well (of course): the mice win first prize. An entertaining, if predictable, plot that never soars quite as high as the characters in their flying basket. Pastel illustrations of the diligent mice building their creation and action-filled flight sequences outshine the text by miles. show less

Toys come to life in the magic toy box. They all pop out one by one, but they do not know what kind of toy Pongo is. The all take Pongo to the teddy bear because he knows what all toys are. The teddy bear tells them that Pongo is half elephant half pig, then all the toys return to the toy box. This would be a good book to use for younger children because they can imagine their toys coming to life.

This book has a range of vocabulary that would be great to use in the class to broaden the students words. It is also a book that has many spoofs based on it. It is about a farm boy who built a home and all the things inside it. It shows how a cat is bigger than a mouse and so forth. There are many teaching lessons that can be used in correspondence to this book.