Preschool alphabet books have multiple purposes. They:
- Unlock symbols of the language
- At this age, children attempt to make a meaning of the symbols they observe
- Used to introduce letter knowledge
- Connect knowledge
- Once preschoolers are familiar with letters, parents and teachers can have them name letters and words
- Language becomes meaningful because children have a direct connection with it
- Demonstrate book usage knowledge
- Books have a cover, back, title page, pictures, etc.
- Demonstrate a model for caring for books
- Used for enjoyment
- Children don't need to know the story plot
- They can make a relationship between letters and pictures
(Warner & Weiss, 2005)
- Teach letter-shape knowledge or letter recognition
- Understand letter shape, orientation, and directionality
- Fonts, sizes, cases, and handwriting styles
- Teach letter-name knowledge
- Letters are symbols and have a given name
- Upper and lowercase letters
- Teach letter-sound knowledge
- Some letters represent more than one sound
- Demonstrate letter writing ability
- Begin to write before they read
- Demonstrates awareness of letter-sound correspondence
(Bradley & Jones, 2007)