I is for Inuksuk: an Arctic Celebration, by Mary Wallace looks like it might be an alphabet book, but it isn't. At least not in the traditional sense. Instead, it explains the stone towers, called Inuksuit the people of the Arctic have been building for thousands of years. Each design has a meaning: welcome, where to find food, where to hunt. The illustrations are beautiful, and there's even a pronunciation guide for the Inuktitut words. My favorite is the one that points to the north star in the winter sky.

While not exactly a picture book, I thought A Scout's Book of Signs, Signals and Symbols, by Daniel Beard (co-founder, Boy Scouts of America) would fit well here. This sure looks like a definitive guide to all kinds of codes and so on. There are nautical signs, secret writing, flag codes, railway signals, animal tracks ... Nicely illustrated (by the author) this made for a most interesting read on a rainy autumn day.

Reading Hermit With Dog