A World of Wonder Awaits On Market Street

In my 20-some years of reading children's book, I have come across all sorts of books intended to teach children the alphabet. Most have "alphabet" or "A to Z" in the title, but some are a little more subtle, like On Market Street, which is written by Arnold Lobel and illustrated by his wife, Anita. In this case, Arnold doesn't have a whole lot to do. Aside from introductory and closing verses of eight lines each, the only text in the book is one word per page. It's what Anita does with those items that makes the book so interesting.

The book is a fanciful adventure upon which a little girl embarks in dreamland. As she sleeps, safe and secure next to her dozing cat, she imagines herself of Market Street, a wondrous avenue full of an incredible assortment of items. On each page, she buys enough of these things to fashion a body for herself. For instance, for "A", she has baskets of apples for feet. Her legs and arms and shoulders are branches laden with apples, while her mid-section is composed of more baskets and a halo of apples surrounds her head, the only part of her body besides her hands that is still human.

So it goes throughout the book. Only her face and hands remain fleshy as the rest of her becomes a creatively composed display of complementary objects. She pays tribute to her husband with the toys, which include figures of Frog and Toad, while the colorful array of flowers reminds me of The Rose in My Garden. She tickles tiny taste buds with pages dedicated to doughnuts, ice cream and lollipops, which she balances out with tributes to healthier foods like noodles, oranges and vegetables.

While most or all of the objects should be familiar to young readers, they are presented in an incredibly unique way, with great intricacy on every page that merits in-depth study. Children can take the time to count how many individual objects are in each picture and point out all the varieties there are. While the apples are pretty much the same aside from coming in red and green varieties, most of the objects differ greatly in terms of color, size, design and other variables.

The Lobels were a winning team, and the Caldecott Honor this book earned is well deserved. On Market Street is a unique and delicately designed alphabet book with the capacity to delight time and again.