The Accidental Zucchini: An Unexpected Alphabet

In yet another of this season's pleasingly off-kilter alphabet books, ``A'' is not for anything as pedestrian as an apple. Try ``apple autos''--gigantic, wheeled apples puttering through city streets. Or ``octopus overalls,'' eight-legged overalls flapping on a clothesline. While a few of Grover's alphabetic juxtapositions seem a bit stale (``railroad race''), most are agreeably odd (``macaroni merry-go-round''), and several are downright disconcerting (``vegetable volcano,'' which spews ears of corn, beets and lettuce on an unsuspecting city). The book's flat planes of color and distorted, childlike lines conjoin nicely with the skewed subject matter. A funny, loopy variation of a standard, bound to inspire youngsters to whip up their own weird wordings. Ages 4-7. (Sept.)