American Mastodon Book

This title is sadly out of print, but I easily found it in the library and then used online.

There are tons of animal-themed ABC primers, but this is one of my son Harry's favorites'and as his other major obsession is animals, that is saying something. I think he loves it because the art is magnificent and unusual, and the animals are a perfect mix of familiar (crocodile, elephant, frog) and more exotic (jackal, vulture, warthog).

Each page has accompanying text describing the animal in action (ie. "crocodile snaps," or "warthog charges"), although I think sometimes the illustrations don't do enough to show action.

There is also something about the very bright, contrasting colors, patterns, and motion-suggesting lines that doesn't work for my son Luke at all. Luke can be hypersensitive to some "noisy" visual input. He will look at each page if I ask him to, and he will name the animal if he knows it, but he always looks away quickly and doesn't come to this book on his own.

Harry, however, is entranced and enjoys reading the book solo. In contrast to his twin, he is hyposensitive to noisy visual input, and although at times he stims with this book (moving it back and forth across his vision field while squinting), as long as he is also reading I think this is a good way for Harry to get the input he needs.

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I review books for children from the perspective of a parent of kids with autism. The review above is from a longer blog post about great books for kids with autism who REALLY love the alphabet: