What Pete Ate from A to Z

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of the Year
A Recommended New Book for Missouri Students

A Miami Herald Best Book of the Year

Is there anything Pete won't eat? Poppy's charming yellow dog starts off by eating Rocky's accordion. All of it. He snacks on a bouncing ball that belongs to Uncle Bennie's dog Buster, and then makes a meal out of the rest of the alphabet. From glue sticks to underpants, Pete works his way through all twenty-six letters in Maira Kalman's creative take on traditional alphabet books. Packed with Kalman's trademark bright artwork and a hilarious story filled with wordplay and repetition, this alphabet book is pure fun from A to Z.

You would not believe the things this dog Pete puts in his stomach. An accordion, for starters. Then an eggbeater, a glue stick, Mrs. Parsley's pink pocketbook, and cousin Rocky's underpants. ("Uggh!") Pete's faithful mistress, Poppy Wise, is at her wit's end. And yet, she can't help loving that dog. ("Quite a lot.") So, from A to Z (in a loose, meandering way), Poppy inventories her insatiable pooch's intake, with loads of parenthetical asides, witty commentary, and an unforgettable cast of characters. Maira Kalman, zany and talented source of Next Stop Grand Central, Ooh-la-la (Max in Love), and other exquisitely quirky picture books, uses the alphabet as a framework for what is truly an ode to a well-loved if incorrigible--dog. Her spectacularly rich gouache paintings are just the thing to illustrate this linguistic playpen. Read this one aloud—-kids and adults alike will sit enthralled. (All ages) --Emilie Coulter