M Is for Meow: A Cat Alphabet is a hardback picture book with beautifully painted pictures of all kinds of cats. Beginning and intermediate readers can enjoy the short rhymes that accompany each letter of the alphabet. For older children, there are interesting cat facts about each topic in the accompanying sidebars.

Parents can read this book to their children; children can read this book to their parents; or children can enjoy reading this book alone. Because of the pictures and short rhymes, it can be used with pre-readers or beginning readers. Upper elementary children and above should be able to read and understand the sidebar notes and discuss them with their parent/teacher.

I read this book with my fifth and sixth grade boys. I had them read the rhymes, and I read the sidebar facts. My boys read most of the rhymes easily, but some of them had unfamiliar and hard-to-pronounce words. The sidebar facts were interesting, and most provided new knowledge to our knowledge base. Unfortunately, the first letter topic (A for Ancestors and Anatomy) teaches and promotes evolution. Otherwise, I found no other objectionable material.

If your family loves cats, owns a cat, or is planning on getting a cat, I think this would be a great addition to your family library. The price is $17.95. For all the information you get and the beautiful, realistic cat pictures, I think the price is reasonable. But if you object to having anything in your home that has even a small amount of evolutionary teaching, then I suggest you not purchase this book.

Product review by Becky Voytek, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, March 2007