Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz (Children's Literature)
We are peas--alphabet peas!/We work and play in the ABCs.” Small round green peas come to life to take us on a rhyming romp through the alphabet. For each letter, they announce their activities at work and play. For example, the B page reads: “We’re builders, bathers, and bikers in a race.” For E, “We’re eaters, electricians, and explorers searching land.” The variety of actions is endless and imaginative. In the end, after all of the descriptions, comes the question: “What are you?” Large upper case textured block letters, each a different color, support the activities, including gardening, creating a lakeside camp for some campers, and more. There is space enough on these spreads for action to happen around the letters. The bikers race along the double pages; the investigator with magnifying glass follows a maze of footprints; outlaws empty a safe of cash. These tiny digitally-created anthropomorphic peas are individualized by their clothing and activities. Readers should enjoy following them around from the book’s cover on, and they may be inspired to create some alphabet peas of their own. 2010, Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, $16.99. Ages 3 to 7.

CCBC (Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices, 2011)
Not all peas are alike in this cleverly written ABC book: they are plumbers, voters, gigglers, and even zoologists. Pea protagonists are distinctive from page to page, and letter to letter, through changing backdrops, attire, and props. Each white page contains giant, textured letters that contrast with the tiny peas—appealing to those who enjoy searching for and studying details. Author/illustrator Keith Baker incorporates pop culture, dialogue bubbles, and color along with rhyme and humor to captivate and engage. Fictional pea descriptions easily translate to human ones, and a final invitation asking “Who are you?” encourages discussion around identity at a basic level. CCBC Category: Concept Books. 2010, Beach Lane Books, 40 pages, $16.99. Ages 3-6.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2010 (Vol. 78, No. 5))
A passel of industrious peas narrates inventive, alphabetically arranged avocations: "We are peas—alphabet peas! / We work and play in the ABCs." Amid towering, digitally textured capital letters, Baker's veggies, sprouting green arms, legs and animated physiognomies, star in scores of charmingly detailed tableaux. At "F," farmers hoe and water at "Happea Farms," a duo waves checkered flags at a bike race's finish line and a quintet of friends jams in a band whose drum kit announces its name: "Pod." "K" features (soccer) kickers, kayakers navigating the letter's watery, angled bend and a couple of kings—one atop a tower with crown and scepter, the other crooning into a mike below (he's Elvis, of course). The well-chosen text type, Frankfurter Medium, pudgy and whimsical, proves eminently crisp and legible for emergent readers. This high-energy romp invites repeat visits by young browsers—there's plenty to pore over and giggle about. Delicious! Peas out. 2010, Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster, 40p, $16.99. Category: Picture book. Ages 3 to 7. Starred Review. © 2010 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly)
Hundreds of animated green peas tumble through the alphabet in this refreshingly original book. The illustrations are full of vitality and good humor, and the rhyming text never misses a beat. Each large, pastel letter is accompanied by energetic peas introducing themselves (“We're acrobats, artists, and astronauts in space”). Most letters occupy a single page, but Baker combines some letters the way children repeating a just-learned alphabet often do. The peas are all small and round, but Baker (Just How Long Can a Long String Be?!\n) gives them stick legs and arms, along with lively faces and costumes, to demonstrate his inventive view of each letter. To illustrate the letters H and I (“We're hikers, inventors, and investigators”), two peas climb a branch leaning on the H, a pea in a Sherlock Holmes hat tries to decipher footprints below, and a single pea with a light bulb above his head, smiles at his newly invented wheel that dots the letter I. Baker's after-the-Z surprise ending is a question for readers: “Now tell us, please... WHO ARE YOU?” Ages 3–7. (Apr.)\n"

Wendy Reyna (The Lorgnette - Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 23, No. 3))
LMNO PEAS is a great resource to introduce the alphabet. It has detailed illustrations with bold, big-font letters on each page. This book is not your typical alphabet book with the letter and one illustration--it is about peas that are given personalities to go along with each letter of the alphabet. It is very entertaining for both adults and children. Each page has a hidden ladybug that children love to look for. Fiction, Highly Recommended. Grades Preschool-K. 2010, Beach Lane Books, 45p., $16.99. Ages 2 to 6.