This alphabet book, set in the Canadian Rockies, devotes a page and full-colour illustration to each letter. Beneath Andrew Kiss’s oil paintings, a single sentence describes each picture, using as many words beginning with the featured letter as possible. As is the case with many publications from Tundra, the artwork carries the book. Kiss is an established wildlife artist. His landscapes and animals are attractive and accurate. He is not always as successful with the human figures in the book, but that’s a minor point, because the overall picture he creates of the Canadian Rockies is quite evocative.

Kiss adds many features to his paintings that expand the usefulness, perhaps even the play value of the book. For example, hidden somewhere in each picture is the letter it illustrates. Some letters are obvious, but others require careful searching. The illustrations also contain many animals, plants, objects, and landforms beginning with the featured letters. These are not mentioned in the text, but are listed at the back of the book. Both these features will encourage children to examine the illustrations carefully and perhaps even learn the names of the wildlife and plants in the paintings. However, some things included in the list, such as “crystal clear water” under “C” and “jagged peaks” under “J” are too obscure to be guessed.

Margriet Ruurs’s single-sentence texts are produced in large, easy-to-read print, but, due to the desire to include as many words beginning with the featured letters as possible, the vocabulary is extremely challenging. The suggested age is six and up, but, with lines like “overlooking the river, I observe an oblivious otter,” it is difficult to imagine who will actually read this book. In fact, young children would find it difficult to understand much of this text even if it were read aloud. Some picture books find their real audience with adults who have a special affinity for the subject matter. A Mountain Alphabet may well be one of these.