Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The multiple-award-winning illustrator takes a page from his own bookAlphabet City (1995), that isand creates a graphic-alphabet book that will have students searching their own schools for letters. In an introductory note, Johnson says his inspiration was a partially eaten peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich his daughter brought home from school: it formed a perfect letter G (and is the basis for the page featuring that letter). No matter the inspiration, though, the artwork within will surely have readers looking at the world from all different angles and perspectives and appreciating the beauty in the mundane. A shadow on the fender of a yellow school bus forms a B; an ordinary double-paned window is an E when viewed from the side; the handle on a pencil sharpener is an L; two metal bookends next to one another form an M; an upturned toilet seat is a perfect U. Not all of these can be found in every schoolQ is the center circle on a basketball court with a painted comet logo bursting throughbut there are enough ideas here that kids will leave no stone unturned in looking for their own versions. Johnson's art consists of monoprints on paper with digital enhancements, and it has an old-fashioned photo feel, complete with grainy texture and whitish borders around every picture. Not only does Johnson once again take something simple and make it extraordinary, but he will inspire readers to do the same. (Alphabet book. 4-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Horn Book
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Johnson shows the shapes of letters in everyday scenes within a school. For each image ("monoprints on paper with digital enhancement"), viewers must determine what part of the school is pictured and find the letter (a twisty slide forms the letter S on the playground). This is a worthy companion to Johnson's Caldecott Honorwinning Alphabet City. (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.