Product Description

From Aunt Annie's alligator to the colourful Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz, Dr. Seuss's delightful book introduces early learners to the letters of the alphabet through an amazing array of crazy creatures. With his unique combination of hilarious stories, zany pictures and riotous rhymes, Dr. Seuss has been delighting young children and helping them learn to read for over fifty years. Creator of the wonderfully anarchic Cat in the Hat, and ranked among the UK's top ten favourite children's authors, Seuss is firmly established as a global best-seller, with nearly half a billion books sold worldwide. As the first step in a major rebrand programme, HarperCollins is relaunching 17 of Dr. Seuss's best-selling books, including such perennial favourites as The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham and Fox in Socks. In response to consumer demand, the bright new cover designs incorporate much needed guidance on reading levels, with the standard paperbacks divided into three reading strands - Blue Back Books for parents to share with young children, Green Back Books for budding readers to tackle on their own, and Yellow Back Books for older, more fluent readers to enjoy. Dr. Seuss's ABC belongs to the Blue Back Book range.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4845 in Books
• Published on: 2003-05-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 64 pages

Review
Dr. Seuss ignites a child's imagination with his mischievous characters and zany verses. The Express

Synopsis
From Aunt Annie's alligator to the colourful Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz, Dr. Seuss's delightful book introduces early learners to the letters of the alphabet through an amazing array of crazy creatures. With his unique combination of hilarious stories, zany pictures and riotous rhymes, Dr. Seuss has been delighting young children and helping them learn to read for over fifty years. Creator of the wonderfully anarchic Cat in the Hat, and ranked among the UK's top ten favourite children's authors, Seuss is firmly established as a global best-seller, with nearly half a billion books sold worldwide. As the first step in a major rebrand programme, HarperCollins is relaunching 17 of Dr. Seuss's best-selling books, including such perennial favourites as The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham and Fox in Socks. In response to consumer demand, the bright new cover designs incorporate much needed guidance on reading levels, with the standard paperbacks divided into three reading strands - Blue Back Books for parents to share with young children, Green Back Books for budding readers to tackle on their own, and Yellow Back Books for older, more fluent readers to enjoy. Dr.

Seuss's ABC belongs to the Blue Back Book range.

About the Author
Theodor Seuss Geisel - better known to millions of his fans as Dr. Seuss - was born the son of a park superintendent in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1904. After studying at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, and later at Oxford University in England, he became a magazine humorist and cartoonist, and an advertising man. He soon turned his many talents to writing children's books, and his first book - And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street - was published in 1937. His greatest claim to fame was the one and only The Cat in the Hat, published in 1957, the first of a successful range of early learning books known as Beginner Books.

Customer Reviews

A Must Have For Babies!
My 6 month old loves this book. I think its the rhythm that keeps him so amused.

This book teaches the abc in a fun rhyming way that keeps both parent and baby interested to the end. (Better than the boring 'A is for Apple' stuff)
Also, the simple but bright pictures are perfect for young ones.

Its a shame it was written for the American audience because the end doesn't rhyme (We pronounce Z as 'Zed' not 'Zee') however, don't let this put you off its still brilliant!!!!

A must have for babies and young Dr Seuss fans!

It can be sung!
I read this book to my kids at bedtime at least two or three times a week. It is brilliant. After having read it about 200 times I have only just realised that every page can be sung to the same tune that you sing the ABC song to. You know the song ABCDEFG.etc..Now I know my ABC, next time won't you sing with me"? It works on every page of the book. Try it, it brings a whole new dimension to bedtime "Big B, Little B, what begins with B? Barber, Baby, bubbles and a bumblebee".

Dr. Seuss provides his own special type of ABC book
In 1954 "Life" magazine published a report about the problem of illiteracyamong the nation's school children and placed part of the blame on thefact that books that were supposed to teach children to read were boring("See Spot Run. Run Spot run. Fetch the ball, Spot"). Theodore Geisel'spublisher sent him a list of 400 words that the author was to cut to 250words, the number the publisher felt a first grader could absorb, andwrite a book. "The Cat in the Hat" uses only 220 words and made Dr. Seussan instant success with beginning readers. Eventually he would go on towrite almost four dozen books for children to read all by themselves.
Of course sooner or later Dr. Seuss was going to put out his own alphabetbook for beginning readers and in 1963 this book was published. It is, asyou would expect, more than a look at the twenty-six letters of thealphabet. Other books will tell you that "A is for Apple" and "Z is forZebra," but not Dr. Seuss because this book stars with "Aunt Annie'salligator" and ends with a "Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz." Young readers will alsoenjoy the mix of rhyme and absurdity so much that they might not noticeDr. Seuss is also showing them the difference between the big and littleversions of each letter.
As I was reading over "Dr. Seuss's ABC," a book that most definitely wantsto be read aloud to be fully enjoyed, I was wondering if I should tempermy enthusiasm by saying that this is not an ideal choice for a beginningreader's first alphabet book. After all, something simpler, in thetraditional "A is for Apple" mode might be more appropriate. But I thinkthere is something to be said for even beginning readers being confrontedwith the level of sophistication found in this book. After all, itpromotes fun as much as reading and young children might never notice thedegree to which they are being challenged.