The unruly alphabet which appeared in author Alethea Kontis and illustrator Bob Kolar's AlphaOops!: The Day Z Went First return in this second picture book romp, this time celebrating Halloween. Halloween begins with H, who (rather than A) must open the show, followed by the various other letters of the alphabet who appear on stage, each representing something spooky—V for Vampire, R for Raven, and so on. Eventually B, sulking because P stole his idea—P for Pirate, rather than B for Buccaneer—even gets in on the act, ending the book with a great big BOO!...

I was not aware of the earlier book featuring these letter characters when I found AlphaOops: H Is for Halloween on my public library's Halloween display last week. I simply thought the cover looked fun, with its vibrant color palette and quirky characters, and picked it up on impulse. On the whole, I think it lived up to that impression, with an entertainingly chaotic story, and appealing artwork that accentuated the sense of humor. I'm not sure how effective a tool this would be for starting to learn the alphabet, as all of the letters are out of order, and there's a lot going on visually, but I think it can reinforce letter recognition, in a fun, seasonal way. ( )

I think the Halloween theme fits perfectly with the story as things are a bit weird on Halloween so having the alphabet out of order fits right in. A very humorous story with cute illustrations.

This is an adorable Halloween themed alphabet book. The show was getting ready to start and A wasn't ready, so said since H is the star H should begin. So the letters all went out of order, and a little helper filled in the letters in order across the bottoms of the pages. Poor B had to make several changes after P stole his buccaneer costume to become a pirate and Y presented yeti, completely undermining his bigfoot. But B gets the big fnale, so it all works out in the end. ( )

Alpha Oops can be used to teach and help practice alphabets. At the same it’s a more engaging funny book with great illustrations.

Interesting way to write and ABC book, must be written for an older reader, one with a clear understanding of the alphabet already. I'm a sucker for anything that has to do with Halloween so i enjoyed the concept and the pictures in this book. It did have a story that went along with the letters that was cute and easy to follow. Would only include this book if my class was older and had a strong ABC connection already.