A Peaceable Kingdom: The Shaker Abecedarius

by Alice Provensen, Martin Provensen, Richard Barsam (Afterword)

An illustrated alphabet rhyme that includes the animals from alligator to zebra.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Poetry, 20th Century

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Alice Provensen collaborated with her late husband, Martin, on numerous highly acclaimed picture books, including the Caldecott Medal-winning The Glorious Flight and Nancy Willard's Newbery Medal-winning A Visit to William Blake's Inn, which was also a Caldecott Honor Book. The Provensens have been on the New York Times list of the Ten Best Illustrated Books eight times.

Reviews

[Duncan]

Lovely little book that is based an ABC poem created by/for the Shaker community in the mid 19th century. Nice illustrations and a little insight into the religious movement at the back

[Nate]

I had this book memorized, word for word, at 15 months of age.

[Rachel]

This book is one of my treasures. I wish I could find a better copy. Beautifully illustrated, and the abecedarius is fun - all sorts of animals in rhyme, helping little Shaker children learn their ABC's.

[Sylvester (Taking a break in 2023)]

5* art
5* unique abecedarian

a sample:

"Alligator, beetle, porcupine, whale,
Bobolink, panther, dragonfly, snail,
Crocodile, monkey, buffalo, hare,
Dromedary, leopard, mud turtle, bear..."

with an illustration for each!

[whimbrel]

A lovely alphabet song including real and mythical creatures. My mum used to sing it to me and now I sing it to my son. It's possibly the best lullaby ever.

The illustrations in the book are wonderful as well.

[Megan]

Beautiful illustrations! I wish I could get a non-religious book with this style of illustrations. Any suggestions anyone?

[Monique]

Very nice Provensen pictures, with a muted austere palette, illustrate a menagerie of animals from the familiar to the esoteric. Little Shaker mottos adorn many of the pages, often placed with a sly sense of humor. "Labor is truly made Worship" labels an image of a napping sloth. And above a shaggily grinning hyena: "I am a Dove of Comfort and Love." Sure you are.

[David Goetz]

Historic interest (the Shakers!), a great list of animals both real and mythological, a lively rhyming scheme, silly and winsome illustrations by the Provensen pair (of A Visit to William Blake's Inn fame)--what more could one want in a children's abecedarius? Nothing.

[lola Franco]

A really cute abecedarius. I enjoyed the illustrations. The kids, not so much.

[J. Boo]

This has been on my to-read list for quite a long time, so I was delighted when it showed up in a thrift store.

The book contains a long, rhyming poem from the late 19th century, consisting entirely of animal names. The poem is an abecedarius used by the Shakers to teach children -- mostly adopted children, given the Shaker lifestyle -- their letters. Each line has four animals, starting with one that begins with that page's letter. Illustrations (animals, and period-dressed Shaker people) have a vaguely old-timey feel, but are from the late seventies, which I guess actually *is* old-timey now, itself. Gosh. In tiny print on some of the pages are a few religious sayings, presumably of Shaker origin.

DS#2 (7) and DD#2 (5) don't need to work on their ABCs, but they very much like animals, and enjoyed my covering up the last animal in the second line, while they tried to figure out what would rhyme. E.g.

Kingfisher, peacock, anteater, bat
Lizard, ichneumon, honeybee, __

The book closes with a brief afterward (presumably to the parent) about the Shakers. On the off chance that there are those reading this review who haven't heard of them, they are a famous, and very odd, Christian female-led utopian (and heretical) movement. Strictly celibate, they survived by adopting orphans and with the occasional convert. Shakers were of an artistic bent, and are best known for the style of furniture they produced. In the late 1950s, already dwindling, the head closed the membership rolls, and now only two or three people in one community in Maine are still alive, though there are some reports that the rolls are reopened and they are hoping that new members might join. The Shaker village gets a lot of tourists, so who knows?

[Adele]

I've used this book to teach rhythm patterns in elementary music classes.

[Guilherme Semionato]

Open Library.

[Reading Fury]

Quite and interesting little book with fun illustrations. Lost a star for the teensy tiny print that occurs near the pictures.

[Helen]

This is a good book for kids ages 4-8 to match up the pictures with the animals named. It is in the form of a poem.

[Maria]

This is a strange and wonderful book that Shaker children apparently memorized to learn the alphabet and help chores go more quickly. The book also incorporates quotations that appear to be Shaker sayings. But the primary thrust is a rhyming list of real and mythical beasts. a short list of animals included on the list that I don't know even at my advanced age: Bobolink, Pickerel, Ichneumon, Auk, Angleworm, Xanthos, and Yellowhammer. However, as we tell the kids at reading tutoring, I can make educated guesses about the meanings of these names by looking at the accompanying pictures. A very cool book.

[Rebecca]

Everything the Shakers did, they did perfectly. While education beyond a certain point was not important to their self sustaining and agrarian lifestyle, reading was. The Abecedarius is their tool for learning/teaching the ABCs. Based on rhyme and meter (knowing these to be aids in literacy development), the Shakers came up with this 'poem' of real and imaginary beasts that is quite simply fantastic. Read it to your kids or even your illiterate partner, its fun.

[Mckinley]

Nice illustrations. Interesting group of animals.

[eRin]

Apparently I received this for Christmas from my Aunt when I was two. Lovely Shaker book to learn about the alphabet and animals (some I didn't even know at 33!). Simple and lovely.

[Nancy]

A beautifully illustrated book based on the Shaker Abecedarius, a rhythmic listing of animal names used to teach children the alphabet.

[Kari]

Really neat words and illustrations.