Clever, beautifully designed alphabet book. ( )

Bought it mostly for the art . . . which is design-heavy and fun enough to frame. The text is ok, but not "wow." ( )

Loved the illustrations. I wish it had been clearer which collective nouns were made up and which were real. ( )

Zeal of zebras by WOOP Studios

This distinctive book introduces an alphabet of collective nouns with gorgeous art prints. Each spread has a collective noun “A pandemonium of parrots” accompanied by a small illustration and a few short paragraphs on the animal “In the Amazon, groups of parrots can be found at “salt licks,” naturally occurring deposits of salts and minerals that they eat to supplement their diets./What a pandemonium it is with all their screeching!” The facing page has a gorgeous art print incorporating the noun and alphabet letter into the art work and illustrating it in a fanciful way – for example, a troubling of goldfish shows a floating school of fish swirling about above their bowl.

Verdict: I was disappointed that no source information was given on where the collective nouns came from, but this is a fun alphabet book with marvelous illustrations that children and adults will enjoy.

ISBN: 978-1452104928; Published August 2011 by Chronicle; Borrowed from the library; Added to the library's wishlist