As expectant parents looking for children's reading materials, Burlingame’s Rebecca Kovan and husband Dan MacIntyre quickly grew frustrated with the selection of alphabet books available. While searching for a book that shared life concepts rather than simple words (in the A is for Apple, B is for Boat fashion) and coming up short, the two had an idea. Rather than begrudge the nonexistence of the ideal book, they would author their own.
“I said, ‘you know what? I’ve been writing poetry ever since I could hold a crayon…I’m just going to give this a go,” said Kovan, whose son is now four and a half. “With that 26-letter format, it was just a tremendous opportunity to look at what kind of things I wanted [my son] to know and what kind of things I wanted him to embody.”
Under the names Dr. Bee and Hobo Dan, the duo penned Alphabet Living, pairing each letter with a word of moral importance (A is for Authentic, G is for Gratitude) through the characters Abby, Zeke and dog Ay2zee. Each word has a four-stanza poem and illustration elucidating its meaning. In addition to teaching the alphabet, the book teaches children values.
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