#michael emberley

Publishing Information:

Published by Alfred A. Knopf, September 13, 2011. Hardback dimensions measure 10.35 x 7.26.

Awards Won:

None found.

Story or Concept Theme:

The children in a Pre-K classroom each act out in turn, working alliteratively through the alphabet, and concluding with apologies.

Target Audience/Age:

Ages 2-5

Narrative Plot

Escalation: Each member of a Pre-K class do something to upset another, in alphabetical order, until Zelda retaliates by spraying Adelaide with a hose.  Resolution: With some encouragement from the teacher, Adelaide apologizes to Bailey for the events she triggered, which begins a chain reaction of the children apologizing to each other.

Coherence/relation between text + visual pictures:

The text in this book is fairly simple ("Nigel nudged Olivia. Olivia overreacted. Petunia pestered Quentin,” etc.), and the illustrations do a good job of expanding on each action that the children take. 

Storytelling techniques used:

The strongest linguistic device in this book is alliteration. The increasingly chaotic illustrations help create a sense of escalating tensions as more of the children in the classroom are upset, and the resolution at the end (which is expressed in illustration without text) does a great job of contrasting the busy chaos of the rest of the book.

Physical structure/design:

Physical copy had 32 pages, with story on 26 pages. The illustrations are placed in small groups close to the text, rather than taking up a whole page, and while some of the illustrations overlapped onto the next page, I’m not sure that it qualifies as a spread.

Brief assessment of the book's quality:

I was expecting this book to be much more simplistic than it was. The structured, formulaic text allowed for fast pacing, but the lack of description gives the reader space to examine the drawings to form meaning. 

Brief assessment of potential use of book with young readers, if applicable:

I could see this going well in a storytime, where children are asked what the next letter will be, and would pair well with a name game. It could also be used as a teaching tool for early explorations of cause and effect.

Brief assessment of the book's appeal to potential readers: