cover image A Is for Awesome

A Is for Awesome

Dallas Clayton. Candlewick, $14.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-7636-5745-1

In keeping with the irreverently inspirational attitude of his previous work, Clayton provides an alphabet of affirmations (“A is for awesome/ and also amazin’/ B is for beautiful/ big bold and brazen”) while animals and objects that begin with each letter hover around the words. The phrases occasionally dip into greeting-card territory (“K is for kids being kids/ (that’s the coolest)/ L is for living life/ up to its fullest”), but the big, furry-looking font and playful miniature images, along with lines like “S is for sailing/ in all seven seas/ T is for talking/ and teaching and trees” lend Clayton’s work a Haight-Ashbury vibe that should gel with free-spirited kids. Ages 3–7. (Mar.)