Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 03/15/2022 *Starred Review* This abecedary of animals has many of the creatures you’d expect, like the elephant, monkey, and zebra, but not in the order you’d expect. While Heck does organize the animals by their first letter, she takes her cues from languages other than English. For instance, “R is for fox” in the French renard, Hungarian róka, Persian rubâh, and Kurdish rovî. In turn, each letter is a work of art with deep or vibrant colors serving as backdrops for the large, hand-lettered text and digitally enhanced scratchboard illustrations that spotlight the animal’s beautiful texture, from a lion’s lush mane to a jellyfish’s luminous fluidity, and each picture conceals the featured letter for readers to find. The lettering also offers occasional surprises, such as the soft pink “P” that resembles the bird in “P is for flamingo” or the long, fuzzy-eared “L” in “L is for rabbit.” In all, 69 languages are represented and can be found in a concluding index. A related website and QR code also allow readers to listen to native or fluent speakers pronounce the alphabet words. Finally, an author’s note addresses some of the challenges of writing across languages, from transliteration to spelling changes (singular vs. plural) to the absence of certain words from one culture to the next. A gorgeous collection for linguists of all ages. - Copyright 2022 Booklist.