The Imaginary Alphabet

Written and illustrated by Sylvie Daigneault

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-299-8

64 pp.

Ages 5-10

September 2023

 

Though Sylvie Daigneault describes The Imaginary Alphabet in her preface as a work that started during the pandemic lockdown, she recognizes that it is a book of playfulness and unbounded imagination. It might have been a gift to have this luscious picture book to entertain children during that tenuous time, but its joyful art and interactive nature will be a welcome read anytime.

From The Imaginary Alphabet by Sylvie Daigneault

Based on the 26 letters of the alphabet, Sylvie Daigneault has created a book of hidden pictures within. For each letter, all works of art themselves, there is a fantastical illustration filled with items that begin with that letter, as well as a quirky phrase that alludes to some of those hidden items. For example, A, a botanical piece of acorns, is accompanied with the phrase Agile Alligators Attempting an Arabesque, pointing at the alligators and the arabesque they are performing. But there are more A words to be found, like the accordion, an albatross or two, an anchor, apples, and an axe. There are even more A items and Sylvie Daigneault generously provides lists for each letter at the conclusion of her book.

From The Imaginary Alphabet by Sylvie Daigneault

The text, like the art, is sophisticated, and children may need some adult participation to help them find all the items depicted for that letter. For example, the cover art, taken from the letter F, may have little ones finding the frog, the ferrets, the fan, the fairies, and the fire but I suspect the fascinator, fern and the flounce might be more challenging for them to pick out. For that reason, I think The Imaginary Alphabet shouldn't be limited to five- to ten-year-olds, as indicated, but a gorgeous and captivating book for all ages. (For art lovers, I could see keeping The Imaginary Alphabet on a coffee table for guests to peruse, which they will be drawn to do, when it's spotted.)

From The Imaginary Alphabet by Sylvie Daigneault

The Imaginary Alphabet is extraordinary in its art and its premise. Sylvie Daigneault, originally from Montreal and now of Toronto, has gone beyond the illustrations she created for books like The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough and C is for Canada, and exploded into a new realm of art for children's books. Very reminiscent of Wallace Edwards's fanciful and extravagant art, Sylvie Daigneault goes all out in her pencil illustrations, giving textures and form to the incredible, and making The Imaginary Alphabet a literary feast of everything, from animals and plants to foods and landscapes. It's beyond a concept book and a search-and-find book. It's an art book that will inspire discussions, inquiry, and exploration of Sylvie Daigneault's craft, and make readers smile for lemurs with lollipops, the overdramatic ocelots, and the unicycle-riding unicorn, and that's only L, O, and U.

A Trio of Tolerable Tales

Written by Margaret Atwood

Illustrated by Dušan Petričić

Groundwood Books

978-1-55498-933-1

68 pp.

Ages 7-10

March 2017

I suspect Margaret Atwood doesn’t abide rules for writing, especially ones that insist that alliteration is verboten. Still, writing as she chooses, Margaret Atwood’s style is acclaimed as unique and refreshing and unconventional.  It doesn’t matter whether she writes for adults or for children, dystopia or realistic fiction, graphic novel or picture book.  Her stories poke our psyches into response, whether into delightful laughter or revulsion for worlds gone wrong.  I’m pleased to share A Trio of Tolerable Tales and commend its objective to yield mirth.

The three stories in this tome were originally published as three separate picture books: Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes (Key Porter, 2003); Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda (Key Porter, 2004); and Wandering Wenda (McArthur & Co., 2011).  Together the three have become a short story collection for early readers who wish to read beyond picture books and a challenging read-aloud for anyone wishing to trip over their tongues and twist themselves into tenuous ties.

Rude Ramsay resides with his relatives Ron, Rollo and Ruby and is tormented by the horrific food regularly presented.  He finally revolts.  On the advice of his friend, Ralph a red-nosed rat, Ramsay sneaks across (or rather through) the rampart to enter a realm of fresh and inviting food. But when he helps himself to a radish, they attack, calling him a robber.  It is only when a girl named Rillah steps in that Ramsay is made to see that each lives in a world with attributes the other appreciates.

From A Trio of Tolerable Tales 

by Margaret Atwood 

illus. by Dušan Petričić

Bob of Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda is abandoned by his mother and raised by a bounty of dogs.

But Bob was bashful.  He did not believe he was a boy, and barked when bothered.  He was bewildered by blithering barbers, blathering butchers, bun-bearing bakers and belligerent bus drivers, and would bound behind bushes or burrow under benches when they blundered by.  He would bite busy businessmen in their briefcases.  (pg. 31)

Dorinda, the Cinderella slave of her distant relatives, runs away and discovers Bob and his doggie family.  She takes it upon herself to teach Bob to speak.  When a buffalo, labelled a begonia, ventures into their neighbourhood, it is Bob who becomes brave and Dorinda who becomes daring and together they save the day.

From A Trio of Tolerable Tales 

by Margaret Atwood 

illus. by Dušan Petričić

Wandering Wenda and the Widow Wallop’s Wunderground Washery is the story of Wenda whose “parents were whisked away by a weird whirlwind” (pg. 45).  She befriends a woodchuck whom she names Wesley. Wenda, with Wesley secreted away in her sweater, is whisked away rather unceremoniously by the Widow Wallop who takes them to her underground washery where three other children–Wilkinson, Wu and Wanapitai–were “washing, rinsing and wringing out the whiter than white washing” (pg. 55).  It is Wesley in doing what woodchucks do who helps the children escape the abuse of the Widow and the horrors of their slavery in the Wunderground, and ultimately, with the help of some wolves, they bring a criminal to justice and ensure the return of their parents.

From A Trio of Tolerable Tales 

by Margaret Atwood 

illus. by Dušan Petričić

If you feel there’s a Roald Dahl flavour to Margaret Atwood’s stories, you’d be right.  There are children who must find the means, often humourous though sometimes tragic, to survive selfish or evil adults.  They make comrades of unlikely animals and children, and restore their lives to some semblance of contentment.  As Wesley often says, “Could be worse.”

Dušan Petričić illustrated the original picture books but the black and white drawings in this volume lend a dark air that emphasizes the darker aspects of Margaret Atwood’s stories.  There’s a bleakness that seems more appropriate for readers who are too old for picture books–perhaps only in their own minds–but too young for really disturbing stories.  So, courtesy of Margaret Atwood and Dušan Petričić, A Trio of Tolerant Tales, brought to you by the letters R, B and D and W, fits that bill in all its alliterative glory.