Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

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Summary: A rhythmic read-aloud starring the letters of the alphabet
Review: In Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault's Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, the letters of the alphabet appear as characters in a rhythmic story. One by one, in order, the lowercase letters race up a coconut tree, which starts straight, but slowly bends under their weight. Finally, the tree collapses throwing all the letters to the ground in a colorful pile. Some adults (the uppercase letters) come to fetch and comfort their children, while the rest untangle themselves and assess their wounds (nothing more than skinned knees and stubbed toes). After night falls, incorrigible "a" sneaks out of bed and races again to the top of the tree. The story recites the alphabet but also intersperses jazzy chant-like language, like this passage after the coconut tree collapses:

Skit skat skoodle doot.
Flip flop flee.
Everybody running to the coconut tree.
Mamas and papas
and uncles and aunts
hug their little dears,
then dust their pants.

The illustrations bleed to the edge of the pages with blocks of color, framed with tropical-inspired orange and fuchsia polka-dotted borders. The letters are clearly illustrated in brightly colored sans serif fonts and appear at all angles, upside-down and sideways. The rhythmic language begs to be read aloud and children will relish the sound of the language. (A superb accompaniment is the audio version of the book read by Ray Charles.) The alphabet is recited twice through, emphasizing the sequence of the alphabet. Because the letters of the alphabet are characters in the story with personalities, the book brings language to life. Emergent readers will be inspired to learn their ABC's so they can enjoy the pleasure and fun of language themselves.

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Summary: a staple
Review: This book has been a staple in our house since my 4 year old was an infant. He and my 18 month old still love it and read it together every night. The "baby" loves the color and rhythm and my "big boy" likes to read the letters.

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Summary: A real page turner!!!! Suspenseful and exciting!
Review: When I read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom I was in awe! It's such a pageturner! It starts off simple enough: a tree and his friend decide to hang out. His friends just happen to be (plot twist!!!)....letters! And it goes on where EVERY letter wants go get up the tree. I'm on the last page now and I can't wait to see how it ends. I don't want to spoil much but it seems like there is a lot of undertones of romance between M and X...I hope they get together! There are also undertones to how the world is...we can't leach onto other countries because if we do...everyone will fall off the coconut tree. I'm not a coconut eater but I do understand how one could feel. It made me sad. Forget the ABC Murders...you have a better ABC type mystery novel here! I can't wait to read the other's in the series. It belongs in every single person's home. I got mine out of a box of cereal. I'm 16 and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom changed my life.

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Summary: Chicka Chicka.....Booom booom!
Review: As a parent of a two year old boy who loves this story...I read it a lot and never get tired of it. And considering how many times I have been required to read it to him...we always manage to make it fun. So fun, that he has started to "read" pages to himself. I believe he's got the word association thing going for him by now. And his favorite part is to say boom boom....after mommy says chicka chicka. Plus since this is a repeat read story it's easy to recite a repetative part when things get "difficult" in the grocery store or the car and change that "frustration fit" into a memory lesson!! Great story, fun illustrations and the sing song form of this story makes it easy to encorporate the lyrics into daily conversations.