http://www.makingbooks.com/hotdog.shtml Video Tutorial
This month's project comes from a workshop I gave last month on Making Alphabet Books at the Massachusetts Reading Association Conference. It is part silly sentences and part grammar lesson. Each page has a sentence with an adjective, a subject, a verb, and an adverb, all starting with the same letter. Mine were all about animals: Awkward aardvarks act amazingly. Zealous zebras zoon zestfully. I found it helpful to use a dictionary and had a blast making the book.
Make 4 hot dog booklets and glue one on top of the other. The book has 26 pages including the front and back covers. It is important that you be very careful when writing in the book. If you miss a page by mistake, your alphabet will not be in order. I suggest you go through first and write the appropriate letter in pencil on each page.
I used paper from the recycling bin that had writing on one side. When I folded the paper in half like a hot dog (the first fold I made), the writing was on the inside.
LINKS
Bibliography of Alphabet Books
There are lots of possibilities for the subject matter of an alphabet book. Looking at existing books can give you ideas.
An annotated list with images of the book covers from the Hennepin County Library in Minnesota
http://www.hclib.org/birthto6/booklistaction.cfm?list_num=202
An annotated list from the Salt Lake City Library
http://www.slcpl.lib.ut.us/good_reads.jsp?parent_id=132&page_id=409
Bembo's Zoo
Bembo's Zoo is an alphabet book of animals created from the letters of the animal's name in the font Bembo by deVicq de Crumptich. An abedecary of animals is created from the font Bembo. The animated version is delightful.
http://www.bemboszoo.com/
Abecedarium: An Exhibit of Alphabet Books from the Guild of Bookworkers
Artists' books and fine bindings by forty-two artists.
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/gbw/gallery/abecedarium/contents.htm
The Alphabet by Abba Richman
Beautiful black and white photos of the 26 letters found mostly in the urban landscape.
http://www.pbase.com/abbarich/the_alphabet
And a color version:
http://www.pbase.com/abbarich/coloured_alphabet
