Alphabet Magic

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert

This is alphabet with attitude!

A told B
and B told C,
"I'll meet you at the top
of the coconut tree."

The infectious rhythm bounces along, as more and more letters join in the race up the coconut tree. 

But when X, Y and Z scramble up, the weight is finally too much, and the whole alphabet ends in a tumbled heap at the bottom 

"Chicka Chicka ... Boom! Boom!" 

The 'grown up' letters rescue them, and they emerge in an amusingly battered fashion -- "black eyed P" and "loose tooth T". 

All ends well, until naughty A is out of bed and daring the other letters to join in the race again.

Lois Ehlert's attractive rainbow of bright coloured letters help kids to begin to learn the shapes of the letters as well as the alphabet sequence. The illustrations of the bent and battered letters picking themselves up from the pile encourage children to look closely at them, and recognize what shape H or I really are. Bright colours on a white background make this clearly visible to the back row at story time.

The appeal of this story is greatest for those kids who are starting to recognize letters, and learn their alphabet (3-4) ; and who find this much more fun than standard alphabet chants.  Mitchell gets great satisfaction from repeating the infectious rhyme - it's a real earworm! - and appears at all sorts of strange times throughout the day. But the overall story works for younger children (2+) and the 'dare' aspect is attractive to older kids (4+).  It's an easy read, though it does work best if you let yourself go with the rhythm.

Be careful with board book versions, some don't have the whole story (Chicka Chicka ABC); while the one that does is huge (for a board book) and a bit hefty for toddlers to manage easily.

The story has been around since 1989, and is still going strong. A true classic.