A Was Once an Apple Pie

Unless you have read this book a million and a half times prior then read-aloud with this book will not be easy. The book teaches the alphabet on each page by emphasizing the letter and creating a short rhyme for the letter below, accompanied by a combination of made up words and real words for comical relief. The nice part about this book is the rhyme flow through such unique words. For example, for the letter A it reads, "A was once an apple pie, pidy, widy, tidy, pidy, nice insidy, apple pie." The letter B reads, "B was once a little bear, beary, weary, hairy, beary, taky cary, little bear!" While the book is very creative in the rhymes it shares, it must be practiced by yourself before introducing it to any little one. Good luck show more with this book! show less

The bold hand-painted, cut-paper illustrations of "A" Was Once An Apple Pie are delightfully fun and perfect for a young child! MacDonald's creative double-page layout and use of contrast of colors makes the alphabet letters stand out. This adaption of Edward Lear's silly alphabet poem will keep kids giggling to the nonsense rhymes. The inside and back cover shows the alphabet, while teaching the reader's eye to follow left to right. This book will keep the attention of young readers.

Age Appropriate: 3 to 7 years old

Macdonald, S. (2005). Edward Lear "A" was once an apple pie. New York: Orchard Books.

"A" Was Once an Apple Pie approaches the learning of an alphabet drastically different than Action Alphabet, however the emphasis on the show more letter recognition is strong in both titles. Edward Lear's alphabet poems are nonsensical, rhythmic and silly. In contrast, Action Alphabet is simplistic with a single word attached to each upper and lower case letter. Each books' illustrations are bold, however the techniques are different. In Action Alphabet, created by graphic designers Neumeier and Glaser, the letters appear as part of the pictures (Rs are the rain hitting the umbrella, Ns make up the net) and uses a variation of black and white for its images. MacDonald uses vibrant hand-painted, cut paper to create illustrations for "A" Was Once an Apple Pie. All illustrators create images that are central focuses within the books and bold the letters associated with each image. The text from "A" Was Once an Apple Pie could stand alone, whereas the text from Action Alphabet could not. show less

This story is an Abc book that goes through each letter of the alphabet. With each letter there is an illustration and a rhythm focused on silly sounds. Although some of the words may be difficult for my ELL Kindys, it is still a funny rhyming book to use in the classroom.

This book showcases Letter Awareness, Vocabulary and Phonological Awareness
Each letter is printed in a large, clear font in a bright color next to the rhyme. The letters are all capital letters. I think it would be even better to also show the lower case letters. The book helps builds and reinforces vocabulary as it pairs up the the word "nest" with a picture of an owl sitting on a nest. Phonological awareness is encouraged through the fun rhymes. I love the illustrations in this book and my favorites are N and P. Kids and parents will really enjoy reading this book aloud together -- great visual and audio features.

Descriptive way for children to compare every day objects they see and know to help them understand the alphabet.

Genre: Informational/realistic fiction
Media: oil pastels?
Age Appropriateness: Primary
This book is an alphabet book of animals. Each letter is about an animal and has a saying. For example, P is: "P was once a little pig, piggy, wiggy, jiggy, piggy, plump and biggy, little pig!" Each letter is broken down into 3 lines and the middle line contains rhyme, but they are not all real words. This book is a good example of informational because it shows children rhyme. However, it is not instructive. It is not really a good example of realistic fiction either. However, someone coulf picture these animals.

This story is an Abc book that goes through each letter of the alphabet. With each letter there is an illustration and a rhythm focused on silly sounds.