A great classic. ( )

A great classic. ( )

Sam and Dudley put on their disguises to go search for the letters of the alphabet.

This book is full of classic Richard Scarry illustrations, almost cluttering every page spread with tons of details. Many items on each page are labeled, inviting children to look for a specific letter of the alphabet. It thus encourages interaction and letter recognition.

In theory this is all great, but I haven't read this with a child yet who sustains interest for the entirety of the book. (Indeed, I'm not sure that I've made it through the whole book yet ... nor do I have interest to do so!) There is just too much going on for each page and young kids tire out of the task at hand before getting halfway through the alphabet. I haven't read it with older kids (7+) yet, but I imagine that they might find this "babyish" as they already know their alphabet backwards and forwards. ( )

Scarry has always been a favorite of my kids growing up, but we had never gotten to this book. Like many of his other works, it is replete with details and a reader could easily spend a long time on each page finding words and images. Sam the Cat and Dudley the Pig are detectives in this particular book and the reader is invited to join in searching for various alphabet words. Scarry fans will enjoy seeing familiar characters from other books.Originally published in 1973, this is a true classic. ( )

Sam and Dudley are detectives, and they need help finding the letters of the alphabet. After finding them, they make a wonderful alphabet soup!