75 ALPHABET BOOKS FROM SLEEPING BEAR PRESS

Located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Sleeping Bear Press has published hundreds of titles since releasing its first children’s book in 1998. It may be best known for its excellent (and seemingly endless) series of alphabet picture books, all featuring an innovative two-tiered format. That means that each letter of the alphabet contains three elements—a beautiful illustration, a short poem (for young readers) and a more extensive sidebar (for older readers). So kids can grow with the books while they grow as readers.

Sleeping Bear has published an alphabet book for each state—from A is for Arches: A Utah Alphabet to Y is for Yellowhammer: An Alabama Alphabet. There are also alphabet books devoted to Canadian provinces (including S is for Spirit Bear: A British Columbia Alphabet) and cities (W is for Windy City: A Chicago Alphabet) and countries (K is for Kabuki: A Japan Alphabet).

But wait, there’s more. Much more. Sleeping Bear is to alphabet books what Pooh-Bear is to honey. You can never get enough, and suddenly you’ll look on a forgotten shelf and find an unexpected gem. The subject matter ranges from ancient Rome (G is for Gladiator) to writing (S is for Story) to fishing (H is for Hook) to Halloween (J is for Jack-O’-Lantern).

I’m proud to have contributed nine sports-themed alphabet books to the mix—covering everything from baseball and football to soccer and stock car racing (my latest is W is for Wrigley: The Friendly Confines Alphabet). I’m also proud of the award-winning S is for Save the Planet: A How-to-be Green Alphabet. But you could build a library of Sleeping Bear alphabet books (everything from A is for Airplane to Z is for Zookeeper), read them all, and find that you’ve ingested a fine education about almost everything.

Here are 75 alphabet books, separated into categories—and this doesn’t even include any of the 50 state books or 11 Canadian province and territory books or, for that matter, any of the dozens of counting books that Sleeping Bear Press has produced. Still, it’s quite a list:

ART, LITERATURE, AND MUSIC

1. B is for Bookworm: A Library Alphabet

2. F is for Friendship: A Quilt Alphabet

3. M is for Masterpiece: An Art Alphabet

4. M is for Melody: A Music Alphabet

5. R is for Rhyme: A Poetry Alphabet

6. S is for Story: A Writer's Alphabet

7. T is for Tutu: A Ballet Alphabet

SPORTS AND ACTIVITY

8. A is for Amazing Moments: A Sports Alphabet

9. A is for Airplane: An Aviation Alphabet

10. A is for Axel: An Ice Skating Alphabet

11. E is for Extreme: An Extreme Sports Alphabet

12. F is for Fenway Park: America's Oldest Major League Ballpark

13. G is for Gold Medal: An Olympics Alphabet

14, H is for Hockey

15. H is for Hockey: A NHL Alumni Alphabet

16. H is for Home Run: A Baseball Alphabet

17. H is for Hook: A Fishing Alphabet

18. H is for Horse: An Equestrian Alphabet

19. J is for Jump Shot: A Basketball Alphabet

20. K is for Kick: A Soccer Alphabet

21. P is for Putt: A Golf Alphabet

22. R is for Race: A Stock Car Alphabet

23. S is for S'mores: A Camping Alphabet

24. T is for Touchdown: A Football Alphabet

25. W is for Wrigley: The Friendly Confines Alphabet

26. Z is for Zamboni: A Hockey Alphabet

CULTURE

27. A is for Abraham: A Jewish Family Alphabet

28. B is for Buckaroo: A Cowboy Alphabet

29. D is for Democracy: A Citizen's Alphabet

30. D is for Drinking Gourd: An African American Alphabet

31. D is for Drum: A Native American Alphabet

32. H is for Honor: A Millitary Family Alphabet

33. M is for Mom: A Child's Alphabet

34. M is for Mountie: A Royal Canadian Mounted Police Alphabet

35. P is for Princess: A Royal Alphabet

36. T is for Teachers: A School Alphabet

37. Z is for Zeus: A Greek Mythology Alphabet

HOLIDAYS

38. J is for Jack-O'-Lantern: A Halloween Alphabet

39. P is for Pilgrim: A Thanksgiving Alphabet

40. S is for Star: A Christmas Alphabet

THE NATURAL WORLD

41. A is for Anaconda: A Rainforest Alphabet

42. D is for Desert: A World Deserts Alphabet

43. M is for Majestic: A National Parks Alphabet

44. M is for Meow: A Cat Alphabet

45. P is for Prairie Dog: A Prairie Alphabet

46. S is for Save the Planet: A How-To-Be Green Alphabet

47. V is for Venus Flytrap: A Plant Alphabet

48. W is for Waves: An Ocean Alphabet

49. W is for Wind: A Weather Alphabet

50. W is for Woof: A Dog Alphabet

51. Z is for Zookeeper: A Zoo Alphabet

SCIENCE AND INVENTION

52. B is for Blue Planet: An Earth Science Alphabet

53. G is for Galaxy: An Out of This World Alphabet

54. I is for Idea: An Inventions Alphabet

55. S is for Scientists: A Discovery Alphabet

56. S is for Smithsonian: America's Museum Alphabet

HISTORY

57. B is for Battle Cry: A Civil War Alphabet

58. D is for Dinosaur: A Prehistoric Alphabet

59. G is for Gladiator: An Ancient Rome Alphabet

60. T is for Titanic: A Titanic Alphabet

61. V is for Von Trapp: A Musical Family Alphabet

WORLD GEOGRAPHY

62. A is for America: An American Alphabet

63. B is for Bagpipes: A Scotland Alphabet

64. B is for Big Ben: An England Alphabet

65. C is for Ciao: An Italy Alphabet

66. D is for Dala Horse: A Nordic Countries Alphabet

67. D is for Dancing Dragon: A China Alphabet

68. D is for Down Under: An Australia Alphabet

69. E is for Eiffel Tower: A France Alphabet

70. K is for Kabuki: A Japan Alphabet

71. M is for Maple: A Canadian Alphabet

72. P is for Passport: A World Alphabet

73. P is for Pinata: A Mexico Alphabet

74. S is for Shamrock: An Ireland Alphabet

75. T is for Taj Mahal: An India Alphabet

P.S. An addendum, for spring 2018, an alphabet book in rhyme, right on time: