A Fabulous Fair Alphabet

Got your ticket? Enter the gate! See the biggest pig and a pumpkin as big as a pig! Taste blue-ribbon jam, pitch a baseball, win a bear. Drink lemonade and eat what? Eat everything! Letters of all shapes and sizes have been photographed and collaged together in this exuberant, eye-popping, letter-and-word-finding tour of the glories of the state fair. From dill pickles and cotton candy to Ferris wheels and midway games, here is an alphabet-exploring adventure like no other. Start at A and be Amazed!

"Frasier (A Birthday Cake Is No Ordinary Cake) has hold of a terrific idea: find photographic examples of all 26 letters of the alphabet amid the garish typography of state fairs. Many of the letters are studded with light bulbs; others suggest the plumpness of a corn dog, or, like a fast-talking carnival hawker, hold out the promise of an unforgettable experience with extravagant serifs, racy scripts, or jaunty two-tone coloring. Frasier then uses the letters in thematic collages--paired with images of fairgoers, animals, and souvenirs--that celebrate aspects of the fair that begin with each letter. Thus Fs become the seats on a Ferris wheel and Ss stand in for children on a giant wavy slide. Visually, the colorful and cluttered spreads evoke the energy of the fair (particularly a 'midway nights' spread against a royal blue sky). However, the letters often feel like confetti, rather than being intrinsic to the scenes. 'Yawning' and 'Zucchini' are a fairly anticlimactic end to the book, but there's at least a hint of the smells and tastes of funnel cakes and cotton candy to be found. All ages. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright PWyxz LLC)

Chock-full of eye-popping photos, Debra Frasier's A Fabulous Fair Alphabet is a one-of-a-kind alphabet exploring adventure. Check out her website at www.afabulousfairalphabet.com.

Alphabet letters of all sorts of shapes and sizes and styles—from blinking neon ones, to unusual old-style graphic ones to rustic hand-painted ones have been photographed and collaged together into an exuberant, eye-popping, letter-and-word-finding tour of the glories of the state fair. Bursting with with bright, bold illustrations of favorite fair elements like dill pickles and Ferris wheels and midway games, here is an alphabet-exploring adventure like no other!

Debra Frasier has written and illustrated many picture books, including A Fabulous Fair Alphabet and the beloved and bestselling On the Day You Were Born. She lives in Minnesota with her husband, but frequently visits her home state of Florida.