Liana LaRocca’s The ABC Song Pairs Alphabet Learning With Animal Fun

The ABC Song gives the alphabet an animal guide: Mother Moose recites the letters, with a different animal representing each one. That simple pairing gives the book a clear focus for young children and an easy starting point for reading together. For families looking for an early alphabet book with an animal theme, the premise has an appealingly direct kind of charm.

Written by Liana LaRocca, The ABC Song is a board book published by Taffy Tales. It is listed for release on August 5, 2025. The review copy came from the publisher, and the reviewer rated the book five stars. The reviewer also recalls enjoying books filled with different animals as a child and expects that appeal to carry over to young readers today. That enthusiasm is personal, and it points to the feature at the heart of this book: a familiar learning task paired with a parade of animal names.

An animal for every letter

Alphabet books work best when children have something inviting to notice as they move from one letter to the next. Here, animals provide that recurring subject. A child can listen to Mother Moose recite the ABCs, look for the animal connected with each letter, and take part by naming familiar creatures or repeating a letter aloud. The format gives a shared reading session a natural rhythm without asking a young audience to follow a complicated story.

The animal choices also give the alphabet room for a little play. The reviewer singles out U and V as trickier letters to match with animals, and says the book uses more creative animal references for those spots. That detail hints at one of the pleasures of an alphabet built around a theme: some letters have obvious matches, while others invite a more inventive search. Children may enjoy noticing which pairings feel expected and which ones surprise them.

That variety can make repeated readings feel participatory. An adult can pause before a letter’s animal appears and invite a child to guess. A child who already knows some letters might point them out; a child who is just starting can focus on the animal and the sound of the letter. These are possibilities that come with the book’s stated format and subject, rather than claims about particular activities or features included on its pages.

A gentle fit for shared reading

The board book format suits the early reading stage, when a book is often handled alongside being read aloud. Its alphabet structure also makes it easy to dip into: families can read from start to finish, linger over favorite animals, or return to a letter a child is learning. For parents and caregivers, that flexibility can be useful during short reading sessions, when a small, repeatable focus may work better than a longer narrative.

Animal-centered books can give children a lot to talk about, even when the core idea is simple. Readers might recognize an animal, connect it with one they have seen elsewhere, or enjoy the sound of an unfamiliar name. The reviewer’s childhood memory of loving books with many animals helps explain the personal warmth behind the five-star rating. Readers should take that rating as one reviewer’s response, while the book’s described premise offers a concrete guide to whether it might suit their own child.

The appeal here appears to rest on a straightforward combination: an adult animal character leading the recitation, a new animal attached to every letter, and a few less obvious matches to keep the sequence from feeling entirely predictable. Families who want a story with a complex plot will find the emphasis elsewhere; those looking for a read aloud that brings the alphabet and animal names together have a clear reason to take a closer look.

Book details

The ABC Song
Author: Liana LaRocca
Publisher: Taffy Tales
Genre: Board book
Format: Board book
Release date: August 5, 2025
Rating: ★★★★★, as given by the reviewer

For young readers beginning to meet the alphabet, Mother Moose and her animal companions offer a simple path through the letters. The reviewer’s affection for animal books gives the recommendation its personal touch; the inventive pairings for U and V provide a small detail to look forward to during a shared read.