Peas and Queues! L M N O Peas by Keith Baker

WE ARE PEAS--ALPHABET PEAS.

WE WORK AND PLAY IN THE ABCs!

And these are no proverbial peas in a pod, either. Each group of peas has a different vocation or avocation, and the animated, anthropomorphic peas with jolly faces and stick arm and legs show us, not tell us, what their own special thing is.

WE'RE GARDENERS, GIGGLERS, GIVERS, AND TAKERS.

WE"RE HIKERS, INVENTORS, AND INVESTIGATORS

Against large, bright white pages, over-sized block capital letters in warm pastels are surrounded by personable peas, panting as they bike, grinning when tickled with feather dusters, and even safecracking (outlaws taking more). The big D for drive is enmeshed in a superhighway, with traffic circles, exits and entrances, and clover leaves all entwining the letter while varied vehicles drive along with their passengers. The text even takes time for some wordplay (the farmer farms at Happea Farm and four pea-ple perform in a band called The Pod.)

There are bunches and bunches (or pods and pods) of alphabet books out there, but Keith Baker's latest, LMNO Peas (Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane, 2010) has a lot to offer the young letter learner. With big pages and one or two large letters per page for most of the alphabet, this one performs well with a group of preschoolers, and the fascinating activities of the personable peas will keep individual readers poring over these pages long after the story is done. Word choices for each letter are very creative, and the overall effect is, well, peas-fully pleasing, considering that it stars some oft-maligned vegetables as protagonists.