Preschooler Katie narrates an A to Z journey through elements of her life. “A is for airplane” as it flies high overhead while Katie and her baby brother, Olly, play in the garden. “E is for everyone,” she says, introducing her entire family. “J is for jam and jam jar,” which is perfect for holding water when Katie paints. “O is for Olly of course!” even though he’s “annoying sometimes.” It’s the everyday- ness of these alphabetical details that gives them their charm, as does Hughes’s inimitable, comforting illustrations showing Katie and Olly, who are white, and, occasionally, their diverse neighborhood. (Ages 3–6)

K is for Katie and O is for her baby brother, Olly, as Shirley Hughes’s beloved pair introduce ABCs in everyday settings that little ones will recognize.

From airplanes high in the sky to zzzzz for sleepy time, Katie and Olly’s daily pastimes offer plenty of ways to learn their letters. There’s L for the leaves you can wade through when they fall from the trees, P for the play-group where it’s fun to jump on big cushions, and V for the vacuum cleaner that vroom-vroom-vrooms when Dad cleans the carpet. Narrated in Katie’s voice and depicting the simple pleasures of a familiar world, My First ABC shows both upper- and lowercase letters and ends with an alphabet on the final spread illustrated with an alternate set of images.