Children’s Book Review – Animalphabet

In Animalphabet (released 18th October 2018), we work our way through the animal world alphabetically, from A to Z with interactive guessing games. With the use of flaps and clever cut-out transitions, the animal world unfolds before us in bright, colourful and detailed scenes. Each transition gives a clue to the next animal, and armed with knowledge of the alphabet, children can have a guess at what’s going to jump out at them from the next page, or peek from under fold out flaps. Rather than telling a story, it’s a journey through the animal world.

It’s written by Julia Donaldson, a much loved household name with the success of series such as The Gruffalo, Stick Man, Zog and dozens of other lively lovable characters.  The writing is rhythmic and simple enough for preschoolers to understand, yet engaging and interesting enough to keep them turning the pages.  I love a book that is hands-on as this is the sort of reading that will keep little minds focused and help those who can’t read the words yet still feel like they’re part of the process, whilst the subtle use of phonics will help learn the alphabet too.

Julia Donaldson’s Animalphabet Book Review

An interactive journey through the animal kingdom.

You can see some of the illustrations above, drawn by Sharon King-Chai, who wrote and illustrated Lucy Ladybird.

One of William’s favourite books right now is Fox’s Socks, an older book by Julia Donaldson that also features the use of flaps to discover things, so I knew instantly this was going to be popular with him! William is coming up to two years old, so not yet reading himself, but he absolutely loves being read to, following along and turning the pages himself. He can identify some animals and we frequently visit the zoo, so this book really captured his attention and hopefully sparked his imagination! Because of this, I think that it’s definitely an accessible book for children from one plus with parents reading to them, and will become a family favourite all the way up to six although the actual reading age is around the three year mark.

Animalphabet is available purchase now on Amazon and would make an excellent Christmas or birthday gift and should be popular with any family who have young children.

What do you think now you’ve read my review of Animalphabet by Julia Donaldson, do you have anyone in your family or friends circle who would enjoy this brand new picture book? I’ve got more book recommendations too!

Note I received a complimentary review copy of this book in order to share my experience.