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“A good book for families to talk about together.” -Booklist, April 2000

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The Alphabet Atlas
Written by Arthur Yorinks
Illustrated by Adrienne Yorinks
Letter Art by Jeanyee Wong


Curriculum Review, 5/1/1999
"The simple idea behind The Alphabet Atlas is to use a different nation to represent all 26 letters. It's in the execution of the concept that the book excels. The artwork by Adrienne Yorinks is of a higher caliber than is usually found in children's picturebooks. Each page presents a riot of richly textured colors reminiscent of a stroll through Miami Beach's Art Deco district, or a display of intricate quilts. Facing each art page is a letter hand . . . along with one sentence presenting an interesting fact about the country being depicted. For instance, ‘Brazil is home to the world's largest tropical rainforest'; ‘Denmark, a farming country, is made up of over four hundred islands'; and ‘Qatar is mostly flat with almost no vegetation, but it has lots of oil and even more natural gas.'"


Kirkus Reviews, 5/15/1999
". . . This alphabet of countries makes as magnificent a showcase for Adrienne Yorinks's textile art as Marian Wright Edelman's Stand For Children (1998) was. Piecing together strips and blocks of cloth that are from, or at least associated with, 26 countries (e.g., part of Kenya is African mud cloth), she creates vibrant collages of pictorial and abstract patterns around stylized political maps; evocative color schemes, plus fauna, convey a sense of individuality for each nation. Wong adds another course to this feast of color with a series of large polychrome initials, each designed to reflect the accompanying art in some way . . . each turn of the page will elicit admiration from viewers."


Children's Book Review Service , 3/1/1999
"This magnificent alphabet book is a collaborative effort. The author has penned one or two facts for selected countries A through Z. Letter art is designed carefully to complement the textile art researched to illustrate the history and culture of the countries selected. . . . This is no ordinary alphabet or atlas."



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