cover image City Alphabet

City Alphabet

Joanne Schwartz, , photos. by Matt Beam. . Groundwood, $18.95 (60pp) ISBN 978-0-88899-928-3

The cover image of this photographic alphabet book will immediately grab readers' attention—it's an old metal sign that says “CITY,” its big orange letters against a clear blue sky. The other photographs, shot in Toronto by YA author Beam (Earth to Nathan Blue ), are quieter meditations on the idea that, in the city, words are everywhere, the opening salvos in ongoing conversations. On the left-hand pages, each letter of the alphabet appears in upper and lower case, along with a museumlike tag about the medium of the word photographed on the facing page (“vinyl decals stuck on glass”) and the location where it was found (“Construction barrier”; “Back-alley shed”). Beam's photos contain muted emotion, like the floating “no” on a newspaper box above a weathered image that looks oddly human, or the “forever” crudely etched in concrete next to a withered leaf. Schwartz (Our Corner Grocery Store ) and Beam both contribute to the afterword, which explains the genesis of the project. Stark, metallic and urban, these images may encourage children to think about alternate ways of seeing their surroundings. All ages. (Aug.)