Gabby by Joyce Grant, illustrated by Jan Dolby Ages 4+ 32 pages Fitzhenry and Whiteside January 2013 Hardcover     Gabby is taking a few minutes to pick up the toys and books in her playroom that she has taken out for the day when suddenly a book slips out of her hand. As it falls to the floor, Gabby is surprised to see all the letters in the book fall out and land all around her playroom. Now letters are on her chairs, up against the wall, in her hair and even in the corner next to the broom. As Gabby begins to explore the letters, she finds that they form new words she hasn’t seen before. The letter C that landed on the carpet is next to the Letter A that ended up in her armchair. Right beside that, she finds the letter T on her table, and suddenly she knows that she has spelled CAT. As she continues to explore around the room gathering up the spilled letters, she finds letters for BIRD and FISH but will have to use some of the other letters to prevent chaos in her playroom as the cat attempts to eat the bird. Each letter is associated with real things, and the illustrator has included a few surprises for the reader to discover. This is author Grant’s first picture book, although she has a passion for kid’s literacy and addresses it in other ways as well. Illustrator Dolby has illustrated three other children’s books.     web reviews   Joyce Rice/2013 for curled up with a good kid's book   For grown-up fiction, nonfiction and speculative fiction book reviews, visit our sister site Curled Up With a Good Book (www.curledup.com)