Cover Image: The ABCs of Virtue

The ABCs of Virtue

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Member Reviews

I really liked this ABC book and all of its bright colors. I think the illustrations are fantastic and the words used for each letter were perfectly selected. This is a great alphabet book to get kids (and adults) thinking about the good virtues to have and how to be a good person throughout life.

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This was a really cute book of ABCs and virtues of ethical people. I appreciated the fact that it promoted a variety of kids (ages, genders, and colors) without making a big deal out of it. I also appreciated most of the letter options. I was a bit unsure about x (think outside of the box) and y (yogaic?) but for the most part I appreciated the way that simple virtues of human kindness were portrayed and explained even for the youngest listeners.

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Wonderfully illustrated, fun rhyme scheme with an inspirational message about virtues. I enjoyed the book and it will definitely be interesting for older toddlers who will be sucked in by the colourful and inclusive illustrations. I can definitely recommend it because my child sat still for more than 5 minutes while I read him the book. .

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I loved this book! It was a perfect introduction to good qualities for children. The rhymes were sweet and applicable. I really appreciated how the author shared how they learned the virtues in their Indian upbringing

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A great early years resource supporting personal, social and emotional (PSED) development in a child-friendly way.

What a lovely little book for children, full of bright, inviting illustrations and providing children with positive affirmations through the sequence of the alphabet and it’s rhyming text.

I really like this ABC book. It has adorable, colourful illustrations which compliment the text on the page. Each page goes through each letter of the alphabet, and for each letter, a positive word with a brief explanation of ways to express it, in a simple, rhyming way. An example: “D is for Dutiful. Our duties are all the things we must do, like doing our homework, and cleaning up too.”

It makes a change from the usual object-focussed ABC books. I love how it supports young minds in their personal, social and emotional development, in a child-friendly way for them to follow. Perfect for supporting early years aged children.

This would make a great addition to a child’s bookshelf.

I received an Advanced Copy of this e-book to read and review. Thank you NetGalley, the authors and publishers for this opportunity.

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We enjoyed reading this book and learning new words throughout the alphabet. Having the meaning of each word in simple terms alongside the pictures was very nice. This book had a nice underlying message of how to be a good person inside and out.

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I love the simplicity of this ABC book with a "virtue" on each page for each letter. I find something like this to be extremely easy to read and relatable. When my daughter and I read it we often will use each page as a discussion point and not read the whole thing in one sitting which I think is great! This is a great way to instill some great virtues and expand a young reader's vocabulary at the same time. My only less than raving comment is I was not a fan of the illustrations. The colors were great but the faces were distracting.

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The writers choose a lot of words that I didn't expect to be included in a children's book (words like "jovial," "mindful") and describes them all in a simple way that works well. That plus particularly good illustrations makes it a lovely little book.

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I really enjoyed this book. Each letter has a word and little rhyme about what it means to go with it. The illustrations are beautiful and depict the word accurately. Some of the words may be a little advanced for younger grades (for example, “jovial”) but could easily use this to teach synonyms!

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I got this book, "The ABCs of Virtue" by Priya Kumari and Komal Garg after coming across it while scrolling through the Netgalley website and right away it caught my eye (and attention!) NOT JUST because of the title/subject and the brightly colored illustrations on the cover, but also because I immediately recognized the first names and surnames of both authors as being Indian — and that was what had drawn me in.

Because I myself am Indian-American, a first generation American of Indian parentage/descent, loosely called “ABCD” (which stands for “American Born Confused Desi” pronounced "day-shee" {from the Hindi word "des" or “desh" [pronounced "day-sh"], generally referring to India and/or the Indian subcontinent}, ABCDs are those of us who were born & raised in the United States, but whose parents are from India and emigrated to America, usually as teens or young adults usually for higher education and/or more economic opportunities, always intending {at least in the back of their minds!} to return "home" to India one day, but instead, ended up settling here {for example, like my parents who were born in India & grew up there, before they came to the US in their 20s [my dad came first, in 1967-68 for grad school, then went back to India at the end of 1970, got married and returned to the US, with my mom joining him a few months later in May/June 1971] and have lived in this country ever since!}, getting green-cards, working, paying taxes, buying homes, having kids, and eventually, becoming citizens — and as the saying goes, the rest is history!).................and I ❤️ reading books by and/or about Indians, and especially Indian-Americans.

Although I LOVE (and PREFER, the MOST OF ALL!) the genre of novels, now known as “Desi Lit” by Indian and Indian-American authors, like Jhumpa Lahiri, Kavita Daswani, Amulya Malladi, Thrity Umrigar & others whose works are typically geared toward adults, I ALSO ♡ children's books and young-adult novels written by and/or about Indian, and in particular, Indian-Americans. Because, despite being an adult  (well, chronologically, anyway, since I’m over 40!) I definitely don't feel like one. Rather, in some, or even MANY ways, I still feel like a child, whereas in other ways, I feel like I'm over a hundred years old. Now, whether its because of the several disabilities & health issues that I struggle with (damn Big pHARMa!😡) some of which have prevented me from being able to achieve any, or even just the majority of the typical developmental milestones of adulthood (like driving,  getting & keeping a job, building a career and becoming  financially independent, having a home & family of my own, etc.) OR whether its because of something else, OR whether its a combination of factors, I have no idea, as there's no way of knowing for sure. But regardless, the ultimate result is that I feel like a kid or at most, a younger (pre-driving age) teenager trapped inside the body of an over 40 year old — and while I DO read TONS of adult books, both fiction and non-fiction, I'm also just a HUGE "kid at heart" (sometimes called rejuvenile or kidult) and I ❤️ reading or re-reading (and in the case of childhood & adolescent favorites [like Berenstain Bears, the Sweet Valley Twins/Sweet Valley High series, or the American Girl books, to name but a few!] even for the zillionth time!) youth fiction & nonfiction books.

That being said,  given that the title itself pretty much establishes that its an alphabet book, "The ABCs of Virtue" is CLEARLY intended for very young children, like kindergarten (maybe 1st or 2nd grade at most!) or younger, as even older kids & teens, let alone adults will definitely find it too juvenile and simplistic. However, for children who are 6-7 years old or younger, it is a GREAT, albeit somewhat archaic book, introducing many or most of the values/ethics/morals that parents want (or SHOULD want!) to instill in their children like honesty, kindness, confidence, generosity and bravery, among others. For the most part, each of the values correspond to the letter that it starts with, like "A" for active, "B" for brave, "C" for confident and so on. Yet, the value for the letter X did NOT start with the letter X, like those for all the other letters of the alphabet — and while they might have not have been able to come up with a value that started with that letter off the top of their heads, a simple search on Apple Siri for "values that start with the letter X" immediately brought up a link (https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/word-lists/positive-words-that-start-with-x.html) that had not just one, but SEVERAL words starting with the letter "X" that could have been used instead.

For example, "xany" which means "a lot of energy; overly energetic" or "xenas" which means "a confident, strong woman", or "xenial" (NOT to be confused with "Xennial" which refers to the micro-generation of people born between 1977 and 1983 who have a combination of personality traits & characteristics of  both Generation X and the Millennials generation) which means "being nice or friendly to foreign visitors".  There were also other words that admittedly, would have been too long & difficult for children as young as the target age demographic...................words like "x-factor" meaning "noteworthy quality or talent", or "xenodochy" meaning "receiving of strangers" and "hospitality and fellowship", or "xenolalia" which means "speaking a language you never learned".

Granted, all of the suggested "X" letter words are pretty uncommon. Which is why it was a bit disappointing that, rather than the authors making full use of this opportunity to expand people's (especially young kids!) vocabulary beyond the ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill words, INSTEAD, the authors "took the easy way out" and chose to use "thinking outside the box" as the value for the letter "X" even though it did not start with an "X" and rather, ended with it. Because although it was only 2 letters before the end of the alphabet and thus, the end of the book, in my opinion it  still totally disrupts the flow, and it would have been better if the authors had chosen another (even if rare!) word as the value for the letter "X".

Although otherwise, this is a pretty decent, even good children's book, the problem is that some of the words (like dutiful) may be archaic, and like other reviewers mentioned, the definition of "zealous" is not exactly correct in this book — and that along with the aforementioned issue of a NON "X" letter word being chosen for the letter X are the reasons why I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5.

There isn't that much more to say about this book. It is a brightly colored illustrated alphabet book with the added component of teaching young kids important values and personality traits!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 STARS!!!!!!!!!!!

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This is a picture book of positive character traits with cute illustrations. Each page is devoted to a different letter of the alphabet with short rhymes explaining the word for that letter. I think the virtues are universal and this book is a fun way to introduce them to children. For example, "F is for friendly - Showing you're friendly means sharing a grin, and playing with others, no matter their skin." Or "O is for organized - Organized people like making a plan. They put things in order, the best that they can." My favorite is "W is for wise - A wise person knows when to listen or speak. They read lots of books, 'cause its' answers they seek." 5 stars. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a free digital copy to use for my review.

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This is a nice book on how to be a good person. It’s short and has lots of cute illustrations. This is a good choice for younger children.

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Each page has a new word and definition about characteristics that make a virtuous person. I really loved the word choices, and as a person working on a book on what raising good people includes, this list is extensive and so helpful for educating kids about what it means to be a "good" person. I love the diverse art too!

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What a brilliant book! A perfect resource for pre-schoolers or even a little older. It talks about such words as patent, ethical, mindful, questioning, strong, thankful and zealous to name a few, and simply explains how you can be those things. It uses the common alphabet style (A is for active, B is for....etc) which gives a rhythmic style to it and will Keep children engaged. Lovely pictures to go with each letter and word. I would use this in the classroom and with my own children.

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This is a lovely rhyming board book that not only allows a child to learn their alphabet but uses those 26 letters to teach virtues. A virtue is behaviour showing high moral standards and moral excellence. Each letter corresponds to a virtue that will make kids better people and better contributors to their world around them.

Some of the life lessons highlighted are: taking care of yourself, being able to tell right from wrong, encouragement to think differently and development of compassion for others and for nature just to name a few.

The text coupled with the illustrations will certainly grant many opportunities for discussion that will bring a deeper understanding of some of the more unfamiliar word. Young kids always love rhyme and oftentimes after many reads learn the rhythm and the words by heart. The illustrator creates a diverse group of children throughout which I love. The illustrations are full of activity, expression and very kid-friendly. Kids will benefit on two levels as they not only learn their letters but also how to be outstanding people. I highly recommend this book.

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A nice book with lovely illustrations but I felt it was a little outdated in context. Being neighbourly by sharing a baked pie is not what most young children would associate I think it would be more saying Hi !
Also some of the words were not age appropriate. Dutiful, zealous ? Zealous didn’t actually even fit the word which was disappointing. A nice idea but for children it needed to be a bit more child
Friendly.

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The ABCs of Virtue reinforces the letters of the alphabet, while simultaneously giving positive examples of how to act. It's a nice one to go through with very young children and to strike a discussion about how to act towards others. It uses rhythming language that should help it appeal.

I did feel like they were stretching to come up with words for some of the letters. There are quite a few that even older children wouldn't know like dutiful, jovial and valorous. Even I didn't know yogic. Zealous didn't even fit the explanation given.

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V is for Valorous-Valorous people stand up for what's right. Like heroes who fight crime with all their might.

A picture board book to describe virtues that makes a community of people that care. Teaching your children these virtues is a good start to see others and what they can do to make a difference.

The illustrations and word descriptions are very helpful for parents.

A special thank you to Eternal Tree Books and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

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Thanks NetGalley!! This was a fantastic book for my toddler! We are working on recognizing letters and the alphabet. This book was a refreshing look at different words to associate with letters, not just apple and ball. Each letter has a valuable quality that I hope to instill in my daughter so that she grows up to be the best person she can be with an open mind. Looking forward to adding a hard copy to our collection.

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Thank you NetGalley and Eternal Tree Books LLC for a copy of "The ABCs of Virtue" in exchange for my honest review.

This book has colourful graphics that appeal to young children. It teaches the letters of the alphabet, new words, descriptions of the words, reinforced by pictures, and rhyming sentences.

Strong values are modeled, inspired and empowered. Some of the lessons are: how to take care of self, perform duties, tell right from wrong, consume what is necessary, endeavour to think differently, enjoy all aspects of live, live with compassion for others and natures, respond and questions things around, speak wisely and take control of lives.

It brings to the family an opportunity for discussions around the virtues pictured and written about.

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