Kirkus Review

What would a world without R's look like? When a brown-skinned child awakens, they greet their pet feet, Doodles, who's in apparent distress. Wait. Pet feet? This is all wrong! Something is missing, but the young narrator cannot immediately identify what it is. A glance at the alphabet artwork on the bedroom wall reveals a telltale gap. Readers in the know will quickly identify the missing letter R; the stolen letter no longer exists in this world. The child decides to hunt down the missing letter but must dodge silly obstacles of R-less mayhem along the way. The child seeks the help of a friend, but without the R finds a fiend in his place. Flying cows (crows with bovine bodies) attack. Then Doodles runs away, or rather is leading the way to the R thieves! Featuring delicious wordplay, this tale hits all the right notes for early primary audiences; parents and educators will appreciate this engaging story's many opportunities to build phonemic awareness and letter knowledge among early readers and writers. Depicting wide-eyed characters and busy scenes bursting with sight gags, the digital illustrations also provide many opportunities to explore the impact of an R-less world. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Silly and playful alphabet fun. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.