A is for an AMAZING African American Alphabet Book

Author: Nancy I. Sanders
Title: D is for Drinking Gourd: An African American Alphabet
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press, 2007

Grade Level: K-3

Summary: An alphabet book that introduces different events and people associated with African American history.

Strengths: This book is not only a great alphabet book, but a fabulous wealth of information on African American history and full of wonderful watercolor paintings. In its simplest form it a fantastic alphabet book that utilizes African American history to depict the alphabet. It is certainly a refreshing option to typical alphabet books. But the book is much more than an alphabet book. On each page there are a few paragraphs explaining the history behind each example. Everything from abolitionists to the Underground Railroad to the Civil Rights movement to important African Americans is covered in this book. Since the history is included, this book is appropriate for a wider audience. Younger children will be able to learn and practice the alphabet in a new way, while older children can use this book to study African American history. I have certainly picked this book as a touchstone book for me!

Classroom Use: This book would be a great introduction to African American history. Younger children may enjoy making their own alphabet books outlining African American history. Teachers can certainly use this book as a model to create alphabet books of their own for different topics of study, helping children learn and remember important information. This book would also be a great introduction for older children to pick topics out of the book for further study. Teachers may also want to check out the other books by Sleeping Bear Press such as: A is for America, M is for Maple, D is for Drum, D is for Dancing Dragon, S is for Shamrock, P is for Passport, G is for Galaxy, and M is for Majestic, which will help to expand teachers’ and children’s knowledge about the world.

(image from Amazon.com)