A is for Bee

By Author / Illustrator

Ellen Heck

Genre

Non Fiction

Age range(s)

Publisher

Pushkin Children's Books

ISBN

9781782693628

Format

Hardback

Published

03-11-2022

Synopsis

What letter does the word bee start with?If you said "B" you're right - in English! But in many, many languages, it actually starts with A. Bee is Anu in Igbo. Ari in Turkish. Aamoo in Ojibwe. And Abelha in Portuguese. Come and explore the gorgeous variations in the ways we talk about familiar things, unified and illuminated through Ellen Heck's eye-catching, graphic scratchboard details and hidden letterforms.

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Reviews

What letters does bee start with? B? Yes that is correct....in English! Ellen Heck has created an informative and vibrant text unlocking the power of language and showing readers that their truly is a world beyond the English tongue. The idea of this book is very simplistic and its simplicity is one of its greatest attributes. Each page covers a different letter of the alphabet and animal ... but not in English as we would expect. For example...A is for bee (the word 'bee' begins with the letter A in Turkish, Ojibwe, Igbo and Portuguese), B is for monkey, C is for parrot and many, many more.

This book is far from a fiction book so the audience for it needs to be carefully and thoughtfully selected. It won't necessarily be a book to enjoy at the end of the day but it is certainly one that will appeal to those with a curious mind. I would like to think it would be a benefit to schools and education settings that teach languages beyond English.

40 pages / Reviewed by Kyle, teacher