Bakers industrious pea-ple are back for a fifth tour, this time delivering an A-to-Z look at work and play. Colorful, digitally textured lowercase letters loom large against white space, cleverly integrated into the action. Firefighters use a ladder truck to train a hose on a small fire high atop the letter F. An Sstrapped to the roof of a school bus filled with book-toting studentssports a row of saluting soldiers up on top. Among the standard community helpers, from architects to window washers, Baker inserts a bit of whimsy: there are pirates, a queen, and five X-Peas exhibiting their superpowers. Theres some deliberate, anthropomorphized diversity: a violinist is female (or at least has a ponytail) and uses a wheelchair; one soldier appears female (with hair in a bun), and most work crews have some female peas (so to speak)....theres fun for kids to discover herefrom the vegetable hordes teeming activities to a ladybug that appears on each double-page spread... -- Kirkus Reviews Time for roll call of the lowercase letters of the alphabet in the newest title in the series. The wee peas alphabetically explore activities and occupations on full spreads of building-size letters in Bakers familiar perky colors. The rhymes rollick and the peas cavort around letters that stand for jobs, from the familiar (Were golfers on the greensWere groomers and garbage collectorsour work is never done) to the likely lesser known (Were ichthyologistswe study fish!and were ice-cream scoopers.). Vivid facial expressions and costumes make each pea unique. Jailbirds grimace, and kite gliders fly open-mouthed. Soon after the X-Peas (superheroes) flaunt their powers, the cast wonder, What will we be now? The answer, of course, so many possibili-peas! VERDICT An appealing option for a lapsit so that readers and listeners may leisurely investigate all the pea-ple. -- School Library Journal * July 2017 *
