booksbykate.net

OVERVIEW:

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REVIEWS:

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BEHIND THE SCENES

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OVERVIEW:

 

Welcome to a world where ducklings dance, ostriches lose their luggage, and yaks do the laundry in polka dot pants!

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Tag along as five kangaroos search for their missing shoes—and find out whether eight elephants (all named Eugene!) can fit inside their flying machine. 

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One Rhyme at a Time is a playful alphabet adventure that introduces young readers to letters and language through limerick-style rhymes and imaginative storytelling. Each page features a new animal, a new letter, and a whole lot of mischief.

With its bold, colorful illustrations and rhythmic, read-aloud-friendly text, this book is perfect for children ages 2–5—and the grown-ups who love sharing silly stories.

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Whether you're building early literacy skills or just enjoying a good giggle, One Rhyme at a Time delivers fun, phonics, and a little bit of mayhem—one letter at a time.

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ONE RHYME AT A TIME  is available on Bookbaby.com (use promo code INSTA2025 for a 15% discount coupon good until 12.31.2025) and Amazon.com (no coupon available.)

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Shipped directly from either Bookbaby.com or Amazon.com. Please contact the respective vendor regarding any shipping issues. I do not keep an inventory of my books and do not ship. Shipping charges are set by the vendor.

 

REVIEWS 

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Amazon Review: Kindle Customer 5.0 out of 5 stars Makes my kiddo giggle so much This is a fantastic book, and a fun story from start to finish! My kiddo loves to giggle at all the funny faces and is enthralled whenever I read the book to him for bedtime!

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Amazon Review: Joanne S 5.0 out of 5 stars Alphabet Rhymes…great book! Clever and whimsical rhymes that keep you wanting more. Your child will love the quick witted alphabetical references and beautiful illustrations. A children’s favorite and wonderful teaching tool.

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Amazon Review: Kristen Manes 5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully Illustrated and Written I thought this book was amazing, with its vibrant illustrations and wonderfully written rhymes. I enjoyed the book so much that I bought some additional ones and donated them to my local public school system's libraries.

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Amazon Review: Amazon Customer 5.0 out of 5 stars Gifts This is my go to baby shower gift. It is an adorable book and children love the pictures!

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Amazon Review: jLH 5.0 out of 5 stars animals and colors rhyming words to make you enjoy the animal featured rifts. Colorful pictures and silly as they are a good read to the kids. the kids and id most of the animals while you can use the book for circle time.. I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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Amazon Review: JODIE CARY 4.0 out of 5 stars Rhyming for kids This is a good 16 page book for kids to learn the alphabet, animals and rhyming. The graphics are good and fun. I liked it..I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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Amazon Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars Clever! A family favorite! We love this book! The writing is so clever. Fun to read as a parent and educational for my little one. The illustrations are awesome, too!

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Amazon Review: Danielle 5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful read  What an absolute delight to read! I loved each rhyme so much and they were all individually as creative as each other.

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Amazon Review: tburbr 4.0 out of 5 stars A Quick, Fun Read This was a quick, fun read that will keep your toddler or young child delighted thanks to the adorable artwork and catchy rhymes since they are the perfect length. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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Amazon Review:  JoMarie Baker 5.0 out of 5 stars The Rhymes in This Book are Such Fun The author's rhymes are very comical and entertaining. This book helps children become familiar with and also learn, about the alphabet. Each colorful and fully illustrated page captures the child's interest. It is a favorite at our house.

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Amazon Review: ula 5.0 out of 5 stars Nice book with rhymes Well written books full of funny rhymes. Nice pictures. All together a nice book for kids. My son enjoyed IT.. I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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Benita Amodt – NetGalley - A quick, entertaining, and a fun way to learn the alphabet…The artwork was so colorful and beautiful. And with the rhyming it made this book a fun and amusing read! I'd recommend this! I got this book for free from netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

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Dana Wright – NetGalley - One Rhyme at a Time by Katharine Tonti is a very cute rhyming abc book. I love the illustrations. Would definitely buy it for my granddaughter who turns two soon.

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Elias Valery – NetGalley - One Rhyme at a Time by Katharine Tonti is such a cute, illustrated book for kids. I love the illustrations and the text works well for the littles. Great picture book. Highly recommend.

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Kristen S. – NetGalley - I loved this book! The book went from A-Z using each animal of the alphbet. I loved that each animal had its own 5 sentence rhyme! The rhymes were great short stories. I Loved the animals names.  They were unique. The illustrations were beautiful! A child would love looking at all the vibrant pictures. Children could learn about animals, nature, travel, friendships and numbers by hearing this book read to them. Overall a great children's book!

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MookNana – NetGalley - This is such fun!   Each letter inspires a short, funny animal poem.   Not only will kids get good alphabet practice, but they can identify the various animals and point out rhyming words while giggling at the silly stories.   The illustrations are fantastic--they're bright, vivid, and wonderfully detailed.   This would be a very enjoyable read-aloud for toddlers and preschoolers! Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

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S. Leighton – NetGalley - Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! One Rhyme at a Time by Katharine Tonti is an adorable alphabet book for young children. Each page of the book contains an animal with a name starting with a letter from A-Z.  Along with a picture of the animal is a short poem using the AABBA rhyme scheme.  The poem depicts each animal in some sort of strange situation. Overall, One Rhyme at a Time is one of the more original alphabet books out there.

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Catherine Pratt – NetGalley - I love this book!!  Such a  singy  songy book lol.  Yes I am making up words.  Such a fun book and the rhymes are so cute.  It's a learning tool for children in a school situation.  Rhyming is such a fun way to learn your ABC's.  Illustrations are very cute in this book. I absolutely love it. I received a free copy of the book and is voluntarily writing a review.

Jenn – Goodreads - Great Limericks, beautiful illustrations. This story was such fun and such a great way to introuce the alphabet. The illustrations are light-hearted, colourful and beautifully done, with absolutely goofy and delightful rhymes. My little guy loved the illustrations, while I got a chuckle out of each of the rhymes.

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Maria Ashley – NetGalley - This story was such a delightful read! The rhyming and little ]oems for each letter of the alphabet was fun qnd very interactive. It had me and my children laughing and being silly all the way through. We also loved the illustrations.  My daughter would point out different pictures smiling from ear to ear.

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Marichus Real – Goodreads - A wonderful book full of rhymes: some are funny and some are difficult, but all of them are enjoyable.  All the rhymes are about animals following the alphabet. The illustrations are awesome and I'm absolutely sure children are going to love this book. It is perfect to read at bedtime or to use as a present. I recieved a free cop of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

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Tara H, Librarian – NetGalley - I received an ARC of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I like creative alphabet books, and One Rhyme at a Time is a creative alphavet book. Not only is there alphabet learning, but rhyming, too, another skill kids need for kindergarten. Great book for birth to five years of age.

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Angie Kuhnle – NetGalley - This is a great book for an early years classroom, ie preschool to grade 2. Each page is a new letter of the alphabet and includes a 5 line rhyme. Rhyming is an essential part of early reading and literacy, matched with the use of the alphabet, and including some fun little stories and vibrant pictures, I could see this being a great tool for early years teacher. I currently teach grade 3/4 and feel it might be a bit young for some of my students, but it would have fit nicely in my classroom library when I taught grade 1/2 and I think and I could see myself using it as a launching point even in upper elementary when teaching limericks or reviewing rhyming and patterns with weaker students.

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Reviews were not edited/corrected.

 

 

BEHIND THE SCENES: 

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Have you ever wondered how someone writes a children's book? There's a lot to consider.

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First and most important, it has to be a fun read for both the child and the adult who is doing the reading.

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Second, it has to be short, usually no more than 16 pages (front/back). And the illustrations need to be colorful. You might think  it’s easy to sit down and write an story about a tap dancing dinosaur, or a group of kids who build jet skis that takes them to Jupiter, but it requires some creative thinking, especially if you're writing a story that rhymes.

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As an example, when I started to write the alphabet book, I was working on the letter "D". Here’s the first draft:

 

Two ducklings named Darla and Dan,

go out dancing whenever they can.

They sure do look hot

when they dance the foxtrot,

on the deck of a catamaran.

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Well, it rhymed but it didn’t work.

 

Why?

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Well, how many three-year-olds know what a catamaran is? Also, unless kids are big fans of Dancing with the Stars, I doubt they’d ever heard of a foxtrot.

 

So, I changed it to this:

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Two ducklings named Darla and Dan,

go out dancing whenever they can.

They hip and they hop '

til they're ready to drop,

Then they do it all over again!

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NOW WHAT?

After you finish writing (or you think you’re finished), you then need to find an illustrator.

 

The team that worked on One Rhyme at a Time was based overseas, so all of our communications happened online. Plus, we were each in different time zones!

 

Fortunately, these amazing artists really understood and appreciated the playful style I was after, and they nailed every image the first time. Just to share, here's the first sketch they drew for Darla and Dan, and then here's the final with the colors. Every time they’d sent me a file, I was so excited, I was hipping and hopping just like the ducks!

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FROM SKETCH TO FINISHED PRODUCT!

 

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