I have a strange attraction to alphabet books. Well, I should clarify, alphabet books that attempt to do something different, or are simply beautifully realised.
Since childhood, I have also always been fascinated with collective nouns; so many different ways to group types of animals or people.
So you can imagine my delight when I discovered Adam Oehlers’ A babble of Words: A-Z of Collective Nouns. In my opinion, this book has many things that count in its favour. It begins with a child removing a book from a crowded bookshelf; he opens it to discover an invitation to “Come get yourself lost in this ‘Babble of Words.’” (Who could resist such a request? Not me.)
Oehlers’ illustrations are nothing short of breathtaking, playfully exploring a literal interpretation of each collective noun: “An Army of Aardvarks”. Then we turn the page and the narrator leans too close and falls into the book! Now there is the added joy of finding the boy on each page. This brings to mind Graeme Base’s Animalia, another alphabet book that has become a household name. I strongly believe A Babble of Words is worthy of belonging on just as many shelves as Base’s.
The nouns themselves are surprising, funny and imaginative; brining to life the characters they are grouping. Some even move something inside you: ‘an exaltation of larks’ or ‘an unkindness of Ravens’ were particularly emotive.
It pains me to point out the educational aspects of this book. Not because they are few, but because they should be obvious and irrelevant at the same time. A Babble of Words is a joy from start to finish and will only encourage a love of words and what they are capable. Like all brilliant children’s books, it is first and foremost a pleasure to read, everything else is secondary.
I hope that Adam Oehlers continues to create other gems until he has a Shelf of Books. Or is that a Pile? Or a Stack? Or a Library of Books?
