A series of nature photographs present objects in nature which illustrate each letter of the alphabet. - (Baker & Taylor)

Colorful pictures of shapes that look like letters of the alphabet found in nature. - (Baker & Taylor)

In a nearly wordless story by a husband-and-wife team, colorful pictures of shapes in nature present objects that illustrate each letter of the alphabet, inviting readers to carefully observe and appreciate art in nature. - (Baker & Taylor)

If you stand in just the right place, at just the right time, you are going to see some pretty amazing things. Like the three tall branches leaning against one another, creating the letter A. Or the spines of a cactus forming the letter F. And it looks like that bent, twisting tree trunk makes the bars of the letter K with that straight trunk in the foreground. Discovering Nature's Alphabet is more than an ABC book: it's a hiking game and alphabet hunt. Full of beautiful photos and practiced imagination, these pages take readers outdoors to let them see nature in a new light. The shapes of the alphabet are everywhere if you look hard enough; not just in the branches or vines, but in the cracks between rocks, the spaces between mountain cliffs, and the accidental clumping of a couple bits of seaweed. - (Perseus Publishing)

Horn Book Guide Reviews

Designed to aid in careful observing and appreciating art in nature, this book comprises a few lines of text and many striking photographs of vegetation, rocks, and animals (most from western states) that visually suggest letters of the alphabet. [cf2]W[cf1], for example, is seen in a succulent, a cactus, and a starfish. Photo locations are documented in order of appearance. Copyright 2006 Horn Book Guide Reviews.

Kirkus Reviews

Wordless except for opening and closing remarks, an occasional phrase of commentary and a key at the back, this album of carefully framed but un-retouched photographs captures letter shapes in vines and tree branches, tufts of moss, rock formations, strands of seaweed, a lizard's tail and other natural objects. The pictures, arranged several to a spread, were shot mostly in California-but children anywhere will find in them an invitation to "collect" the letters that can be found all around: sometimes hidden, more often in plain sight. Shelve near Kjell Block Sandved's similar Butterfly Alphabet (1996) or Stephen Johnson's photorealistic Alphabet City (1995). (Picture book. 4-6) Copyright Kirkus 2006 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

When Melville wrote about nature's "cunning alphabet," he meant it metaphorically: humans, he argued, see in nature only the lessons they seek. But husband-and-wife team Castella and Boyl have discovered a literal alphabet in the natural world, and they present its examples in 92 lovely full-color photographs. The images span the grand (set against a backdrop of the Grand Canyon, twin branches of a juniper tree form a Y) and the minute (the vein of a yucca leaf curls into a Q), the ancient (the O of petrified wood) and the brand new (the curving G of a mangrove seedling). Leaves, corals, branches and shoots form most of the letters, though there are icicles shaped like an M, a gecko curled like a P and an inlay of quartz that looks like a U. The text is rudimentary and encouraging--the sort of thing that adults should ignore unless they are reading to rapt children: "Nature holds a secret world filled with hidden letters. The best way to find them is to slow down and explore." Though it's sweet and simple, this is also the sort of book that might spur its readers, young or not, off the couch and into the great wide readable world. (May)

School Library Journal Reviews

Gr 2 Up -Castella and Boyl have assembled a portfolio of photographs of natural objects that form individual letters of the alphabet. From beaches to deserts, they discovered letters large and small in vines and flowers, tree trunks and seedpods. The minimal text urges readers to undertake such explorations to find their own hidden patterns. Two to five photos for each letter provide plenty of examples to encourage such discoveries. Information on photo locations follows an explanatory afterword about the project. None of the shots was staged; the photos were not retouched. Obviously the book is not for alphabet novices. However, it would work well to spark interest in a number of subjects, particularly science, art, and design, and could be appreciated by budding naturalists. Stephen T. Johnson's Alphabet City (Viking, 1995) and Joanne Dugan's ABC NYC (Abrams, 2005) record human-made structures. All these books should stimulate readers to explore the world around them and to look more closely at their surroundings.-Kathy Piehl, Minnesota State University, Mankato