Tigers and Sails and ABC Tales »

The alphabet is introduced using the letters to describe 26 fine works of art owned by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-The alphabet is the organizational framework to showcase the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts's Mellon collection in a picture-book format. On each spread, one page presents an American or European painting, while the other offers several iterations of the letter and a brief sentence. The text is awkward and pedestrian: "E is for earring gleaming all bright G is for green of the grass all around." It neither rhymes nor flows. The reproductions alone are not compelling enough to sustain children's attention. Back matter includes a photograph of Paul Mellon as a boy and attributions for each image. Local libraries and museum visitors will be the primary audience for this offering.-Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.