Are your kids ready for school? Come join us! This Sunday morning, for Kids In The Cliff storytime at The Wild Detectives, we’ll brush up on our ABCs. It may still feel like summer, but come and get cool for school with a special storytime that’s all about the alphabet.
An abecedarium is a book based on the ABCs, often with alliterative wordplay, and our first two abecedaria (plural) are our most traditional in format for the day – short and full of rhymes. Margaret Wise Brown, best known for Goodnight Moon, wrote the charming and inventive Sleepy ABC, which was published posthumously in 1953 and originally illustrated by her artist friend from Siberia: Esphyr Slobodkina, who is herself best known for her classic Caps For Sale. Daria Tessler’s Animal Sleep Stories ABCs from 2012 evidences a likely lifetime of admiration for vintage children’s books but is decidedly more contemporary in sensibilities (from the the T page: Tinshell Turtle in a tasteless toupée teases it up with lots of hairspray).
The main story for the week is one of the best, most fresh takes on the ABC book form in recent years and a personal favorite. Once called Gorey for pre-schoolers, Oliver Jeffers’ 2014 Once Upon An Alphabet: Short Stories For All The Letters is a giant red book full of wit. From astronaut to zepplin, each nuanced micro-story marries the seemingly dashed-off details of the drawings with the studied insouciance of the text (the H entry alone appears to reference not only the work of of conceptual artist Gordon Matta-Clark but also not one but two Hokusais, and likely Jeff Wall as well). The results are equal parts heart warming, harrowing and hilarious. You can hear an NPR interview with the artist/author/illustrator here, and hear why he couches his work as picture books. Hint: it’s why adults like his work as much as the kids do.
Finally, we’ll zip through a most unusual variation; from 2013, The Artists’ Colouring Book Of ABCs was made with twenty-six contributions from prominent international artists like Alex Katz, Bob and Roberta Smith, and Chantal Joffe – Grayson Perry and Jake and Dinos Chapman provide particularly fun pages. With the purpose of introducing a young generation of children to contemporary art and having the artists specifically engage with them, it is the opposite of the adult coloring books that have since flooded the market. Grab your chance to enjoy this out of print, limited edition book of ABCs from the UK.
It’ll be about a 45 minute read with something fun for the kids–that’s going to be interesting, we can’t wait to see what they come up with.
All ages are welcome.
On Sunday mornings, bring your kids and infuse them with a love of reading.
*Special note for parents: As usual, we’ll have related extra books on hand in case you are looking for other excellent picture books we recommend. Particular emphasis is placed on striking illustrations, great graphic design or standout writing. Titles may be brand new, old treasures, from home, our Kids’ Section or the library, but they are always picked with love and a sense of adventure. If there’s a book you’d love, consider our ordering service!
Kids In The Cliff is organized by Lanie DeLay, who has worked at Dallas Contemporary, the Dallas Public Library, Hamon Arts Library at SMU, at area preschools and the School For The Blind in Austin. She has written for Glasstire and Art&Seek, and she tutors children in early reading skills at Dealey Montessori. When she isn’t looking at art or reading with kids, she’s reading about art or looking for a new read.
It’ll be about a 45 minute read with something fun for the kids–that’s going to be interesting, we can’t wait to see what they come up with.
All ages are welcome.
On Sunday mornings, bring your kids and infuse them with a love of reading.
Price
- FREE!
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