Mary Pansini La Haye

This is a wonderful book with truly beautiful illustrations. There are bright colors to hold your child's attention throughout this entire book. As you go through the alphabet, there is a beautiful picture on a page to go with the wording on the page across from it. Unlike most books, not only is there one word that matches the letter, but SEVERAL all the way through. My 6 year old made me read it to him four times in a row. When that was done, he wanted to go back through it and talk about all the pictures.

Book Example:
For the letter *E* -- there are 3 lines of words and they contain: elephant, enormous and then elephant again. The repetition factor of the words are wonderful.

This is another beautiful must have for your child's young reader book shelf.

Pages: unnumbered
Softcover… (mehr)

This ABC book is like no other. Not only does it have fun phrases that rhyme and use the letter profiled in many different ways, but the illustrations are fantastic and clearly showcase the talents of not just the writer but of the illustrator Anita Miles as well.

When I first opened this book, I was struck by the fun way the author has taken the English language and turned it into an ABC book, like none other I have seen previously. No “A is for apple” for author, Mary Pansini La Haye. No, her “A is for antelope” and this antelope is “leaping in a cantaloupe field” The unique words that she chooses and the adventures she brings to life on one page are the sort of adventures into language that even the most fidgety of children will stop and pay attention to when read to. Older readers will find a satisfaction out of reading the somewhat hard words and will view with pure pleasure, the illustrations within.

I have young nieces who would adore this book and in fact, it is going to be hard to decide what I will do with it, after I finish. I am half tempted to keep it until I have grandchildren, for as a former teacher, I can attest to the boring books there are on the market designed to teach kids their ABC’s. This book is not only unique but it’s imaginative as well. A statement that I honestly cannot make with most of the ABC books on the market.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who has young children, pre-school age and up. It is fun to read and funnier still to see the words turned into colorful pictures. I know that children of all ages will giggle when they see a camel swimming in a pool or an iguana eating an ice cream cone. Each page has it’s own charm and it is because of this charm that I feel this book will be a hit in your home and in the classroom as well.

Buy this book for the young reader in your life. You won’t be sorry and in fact, I’ll bet you have as much reading it as your young readers did. I know I enjoyed it immensely and I don’t even have any little ones in my home at this time. It’s a winner, hands down!… (mehr)

What a wonderful book! Mrs. La Haye has a wonderful and creative mind and "A Wizard Sleeping on a Watermelon and Other Wondrous Sights" proves it!

As a mother to a 5 year old who suffered a traumatic brain injury when she was 11 months old, I am very critical with the books I pick out for her. I need to look at the imagery, the language, and the visual stimulation. "A Wizard Sleeping" has passed and exceeded my expectations!

"A Wizard Sleeping" goes through every letter of the alphabet teaching children a noun and an adjective with each letter. For example, "There's an ANTELOPE leaping in a cantaloupe field. Isn't that an AWESOME sight, to see an ANTELOPE leaping in a cantaloupe field?" Ending every letter with a question engages children and keeps their interest going. At the end, we review every noun in alphabetical order!

On top of the vocabulary, the illustrations are outstanding! My daughter was able to see the images clearly and KNOW that it's a frog sitting on the dinosaur's tail. That's a HUGE feat considering my daughter has visual impairments! As an adult, I enjoyed reading it myself!

I want to close this review by giving "A Wizard Sleeping On a Watermelon and Other Wondrous Sights" an A+ and highly recommend parents, teachers, and caregivers to purchase this book and read it to your children… (mehr)