Now that we’ve entered the new year, it’s time to start focusing on those pesky resolutions that so often get left behind after a few days. Maybe you’re looking to work out more, eat healthier, or help your children learn more…while we can’t help with the first two, we certainly know a thing or two about books that can help facilitate and improve learning. Therefore, today at CRP we’ve taken the time to compile a list of the 5 best new ABC Books for kids, that help cover all the bases when it comes to the alphabet and social-emotional learning!

Game On: Tackling Sports from A to Z by Londyn Covington, Illustrated by Samantha Covington

Covington’s new book tracks all kinds of sports from around the globe according to the alphabet, working all the way from archery to ziplining! Inspiring creativity and exploratory expression, this book about the wonders of physical activity guarantees a love for sports, whether it’s through actual exertion or on the sidelines as a fan. Additionally, the author made sure to include acts of teamwork within the book, including people from all over the world to demonstrate the importance of community through diversity and inclusion! So take a peek inside - you never know what your child’s sport could be, and why not help them explore while encouraging reading and learning?

The ABCs of You by Katie Buchler

Looking to inspire relationship-building and social-emotional learning in your kids? Look no further than Katie Buchler’s newest text, focusing on affirmations along the alphabet! This colorful book celebrates uniqueness on every page - she’s highlighting the aspects of what makes you you, inspiring individual expression and creative play, important qualities for every child to learn. Buchler ensures each child feels special, valued, and capable through creative rhymes that inspire young minds to keep reading, learning poetic expression, and interest in each child’s distinctiveness. 

Scaly Feet and a Sound So Sweet: A Rhyming Alphabet Adventure by Lacey Moore, Illustrated by Emma Louise Clark

This new book from Lacy Moore takes on the wild world of the animal kingdom, through rhyming expression. Through creative and fun-filled illustrations and an adventure that spans the globe promoting all kinds of animals, you can teach the alphabet and reading skills in addition to animal identification! Of course, you’ll also be exploring big feelings like courage and kindness as readers meet scary animals and explore their relation to one another, through this playful book full of colorful words and activities. 

Here at Cardinal Rule Press, we are happy to help you with resources for your bookstore or library. Click HERE for your freebie!

I Love Me from A to Z: A Body Positive ABC Board Book by Emily Lauren Dick, Illustrated by Mimi Moffie 

With this book, it’s all in the name! Emily Lauren Dick, the author of Body Positive, has crafted an important, informative book about the beautiful differences of humanity - coming in all shapes, sizes and colors! Not only celebrating body positivity, this text takes time to focus on different forms of expression and activity that promote talent and activity, in whatever form they come in. With exciting illustrations from the viral Instagram artist Mimi Moffie, it’s an unmissable opportunity to teach kind expression and self-love to everyone! Plus, it’s a perfect opportunity to help children explore their mind-body connection through experience and expression with the world! 

ABC’s of Kindness by Samantha Berger, illustrated by Ekaterina Trukhan

This book from the renowned “Highlights” organization is a great place to begin building or improving conversations regarding everyday acts of kindness. With exciting illustrations and writing that facilitates engagement with a focus on fostering a love for reading, this text is working hard to both teach and inspire! Additionally, they’ve ensured that they’ve made inclusions that focus on improving math skills and building positive early associations with reading. However, this book doesn’t release until August, so we’re getting you excited early, you’ll just have to wait a little longer for it!

Teaching a child their ABCs is just the first step in a long line of learning and expression as they grow up, so now it is the perfect time to discover new ways of inspiring that exploration! With books about sports, animals, kindness, and so much more, you can’t go wrong anywhere - you might even want to think about starting to create your own ABC book, about all the things you’ve learned along the way with your child! So get to work on those resolutions and start reading, you’ll be pleased with the results of your children, and maybe learn a thing or two yourself. 

Logan May is a senior at Bowling Green State University, studying English while double minoring in marketing and writing. In his free time, he can be found reading or performing on stage, promoting his passions on and off the page.