A, B, C... PLAY WITH ME: A READ 'N PLAY LEARNING SET. Text and illustrations by Roger Pare. Montreal, Heritage-La courte echelle. Set contains 1 book, 1 game, and 2 puzzles. $19.95. ISBN 2-7625-5176-5. Distributed by Service, 50 Main Street, Ottawa. Ont. KIS 1B2. Pre-school and up/Ages 3 and up Reviewed by Jane Robinson Volume 17 Number 3 1989 May This English version by David Homel is a translation of L'alphabet (La courte echelle. 1985, 1987). The kit consists of a soft-cover ABC book and thirty-two illustrated letter squares to be used in the construction of two puzzles and a number of word games. In the accompanying book. A.B.C... Read with Me. the reader is presented with an alphabetical array of objects and animals in picture and sentence form. After having first read the book, the reader can springboard to assembling the puzzles (not in traditional jigsaw form) and "playing" any or all of the ten letter/word games suggested in the guide. The appeal of the kit unquestionably lies in Roger Fare's wonderful illustrations. They are colourful, animated and humorous and a joy to manipulate in the glossy laminated form of the individual letter squares. Beyond that, the kit is a reworking of many of the commercially available classroom games of this genre and has nothing really new to offer. The word games, for example, include spelling out the key words from the ABC book using the letter squares, scrabble, letter scrambles and making new words from the letters of the key words. Some of the vocabulary chosen to associate words with particular letters of the alphabet is questionable. Words such as "nudist." "Tarzan." "unique" and "vagabond" are not appropriate at this age level. in the case of "W," the "wagon" is pictured as a train car and will certainly need clarification. The delightful illustrations make it difficult to resist, but it's unlikely a classroom library would get its money's worth from A.B.C... Play with Me. Jane Robinson, Winnipeg, Man.