Dr. Seuss's "ABC" book is definitely a tongue twister to read aloud. It shows examples of all the letters in capitals and lower case and has at least three words to go along with the letters. Some of the words are made up while others are actual words. I think it is one of the better ABC books because of how each example is. After each letter is introduced, the reader is asked what begins with this letter. This could be an opportunity for the teacher or parent to ask a child if they know any words that do begin with this letter. It helps the child make connections to letters and to help identify them in other examples of literature. Some of the examples given are; "Barber baby bubbles and a bumblebee" (Seuss, 8), "Kick a kettle. Kite and a king's kerchoo" (Seuss, 27), "The quick Queen of Quincy and her quacking quacker-oo" (Seuss, 40), and "Silly Sammy Slick sipped six sodas and got sick sick sick" (Seuss, 45). The last page is of course Z. So often, Z is only associated with zebra due to the slim pickings of words that start with Z in the English language. Dr. Seuss on the other hand, ends it in a very unique way. "Big Z little z, What begins with Z? I do. I am a Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz as you can plainly see" (Seuss, 61-63).
I really enjoy reading this book and it is such a fun and different twist on ABC's that I have found young children to enjoy it as well. Having so many unique examples keeps the book interesting form page to page. As an author, he has won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 and three Academy Awards. The pictures are just as fun as the literacy. The crazy creatures he has created to go along with their equally interesting names are fun visually. I think this is a great way to introduce the ABC's as well as review them and to use as a reference during in class activities.
Seuss, Dr. (1991). Dr. Seuss's ABC. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.
I agree that this book may be more useful than some of the other ABC books. I do think that older children may appreciate it more too, especially if they can play with the words themselves. A lot of the ABC books we see are the same, do not have much variety and are one word per page. Using more than one word I think helps children really understand and have fun with it the way Dr. Seuss does.
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