Charley Harper ABCs: Skinny Edition Board book – Picture Book, November 1, 2008

This book is like a small collection of works of art rather than a child's book. I think it is well worth the price. It's beautifully printed. Charlie's illustrations are simple, clever, intelligent and beautiful. This book is far superior to many other children' books out there.I'm only giving it 4 stars, unfortunately, because the binding is not the best. I received my first book and the binding was falling apart. In addition, one of the inside pages was wrinkled as it was bound to the board. So, I returned it and received a replacement book from amazon at no charge. This time the internal pages were pristine, but before I even had a chance to share it with my son, the cover came apart from the board. The binding material/glue that this publisher uses must not be of great quality.So, four stars. It seems my case may be isolated, but since I had two books that were low quality, I'd thought I'd pass that info on. For such a beautiful and unique book, the quality should reflect that.I'd still recommend this book. Charlie Harper was an amazing artist, and I'm so glad someone decided to share his work with our children!

I loved this book! The illustrations of animals on each spread are graceful works of art. The delicate use of line, color and shape sometimes looks Japanese, sometimes like a collage made of construction paper. Others are loose pen-and-ink drawings.You can tell the late Charley Harper loved animals, as his affection for them jumps off the page. There is so much personality! In D is for Dog, the smiling spaniel has dirt on his nose and legs, and you can almost see him panting. In I is for Iguana, two giant lizards battle for a captive tiny pig, swinging their tails and rearing up. Q is for Quail shows whirring wings on a fat and happy bird.The inside covers show a collage of dozens of other Harper animals, most of which are not used in the book.The board book itself is a little more sturdy than most. It will hold up well.Charley Harper's ABC's is an outstanding way to introduce fine artwork to young children. Other good choices include  Zen Ties  and  Walt Disney's Cinderella .

Really liked the book. I was disappointed on two of the illustrations. I is for Iguana shows an illustration of a Komodo Dragon, and P is for Penguin a picture of a Murre.Picky? Absolutely, but it is a Charley Harper book. Since the illustrations are pulled from many stages of his career, the look is not as cohesive as you might hope, but I actually see that as a plus, since it has variety.Still, 4 stars, I would buy again and have bought as gifts.

This ABC book is beautifully illustrated. Pleasing for both a child and adult to look at.The one thing that strikes me as strange is that the whole book follows the "A is for Ape, B is for Bird" pattern until you get to "N is for Nest", then "U is for Underwater???", "W is for Web" and "X- how many X's Can You Find?". It would have been nice to have animals on all the pages.. well I guess X is a bit hard. Perhaps they didn't have any illustrations from Charley Harper to fit those pages?But otherwise I love this book. Would even look good on the coffee table!

As a new Charley Harper fan, I was very excited to receive this in the mail. After flipping through it, I was a bit disappointed. Most of the pictures are rather small for the space provided or of low quality. The iguana is very pixelated. I was going to give it three stars but LOVE the inside cover! It contains a section from Harper's "Tree of Life". Absolutely stunning!

The book is beautiful and immediately engaged my 17 month old, but I wish I had purchased it from a bookstore... or anywhere other than Amazon. I purchased a NEW book from Amazon, and received a dirty book with weak binding and scuffs. Great book, just don't buy it from or let it be fulfilled by Amazon.

I love Charley Harper and picked this book up as a baby shower gift. I debated for hours over full size book vs. the board book and am glad that I chose the full size book the drawings are large full size of the page and colorful. Will be a lot of fun to read!

The pictures in this book are amazing and it's probably one of our favorite board books so far. My six month old loves to touch all of the pictures and will just look at the book for a few minutes on her own. This is a beautiful book that I would highly reccomend for the little person in your life. :)

I loved this a book as soon as it arrived, and my son and his daughter loved it too. She is only 17 months, but already likes to look at pictures in books. I don't understand the comment about some pictures not being of animals - it doesn't say that this is an animal ABC, so what is the problem? The only page I think is a bit odd is X, but then it isn't an easy letter. As regards the comments about Y for Yak being of poor quality - it isn't in my copy, it's a lovely colour illustration.

gorgeous, gorgeous illustrations, and great for teaching little ones about animals. Just wish it said "ladybird" rather than "ladybug"

Lovely pictures, more for the grown ups. as with 123's, it's about teaching them tasteful design rather than the alphabet.

great gift

Love these books - very creative.