katekintailbc | I Spy: An Alphabet in Art by Lucy Micklethwait

I Spy: An Alphabet in Art
by Lucy Micklethwait

I spotted this in the library on display and gave it a quick read. I thought it was a wonderful and clever book--until I got to the end ;-)

Each page has a letter of the alphabet and prompts the reader to find something that starts with a certain letter in the picture adjacent. The full page picture gives the reader a wonderful look at the art piece on its own, really letting you explore its details. For example, find something that starts with A in Magritte's Son of Man (shouldn't be too hard!). I also liked that the title and artist were printed right there as well-no needing to go back to the index to figure out what a piece is called. Art from all different time periods and using different mediums.

Some pages I found challenging, others were obvious (or so I thought). I couldn't find any animals that started with T in the great procession of animals headed to Noah's Arc, but I guessed there were turtles... and I ended up being right. You see, in the back of the book is an answer key. I was shocked that it was called an answer key, with no text at the top like "suggested answers" or "here are some possible answers--how many more could you find?" Instead, it felt like some definitive answer key, making fun of the fact that I didn't get the right answer to some of them. Did you say cage instead of cat for C? Then you're wrong. Boo!

Really, it's just a small problem, and I was happy for them to have the list at the back, because a few of them sort of stumped me in my quick skim through. But I would have liked there to be some text reassuring kids that their answers might not be listed but were just as correct.

I doubt many parents or kids would take the answer key as literally as I did. Maybe I'm just sensitive. But as long as creativity is encouraged, I'm all for this book. A beautiful ABC book with an artistic twist. Fun!