“Mr. Steve” Fowler Launches Alphabittles Book Series
Steve Fowler reads his book, The B Hive, to a group of children and their caregivers at the Bellingham Library.
By Jennifer Russo
Steve Fowler recently visited the Bellingham Library to share information about his new book series, Alphabittles – with a live reading of the first book to launch, The B Hive.
Before the community room doors opened, you could see how excited everyone was to see “Mr. Steve,” the library’s former youth services librarian who created the Alphabits program that is still successfully running today. The program runs for twenty-six weeks and focuses on a different letter of the alphabet each week, a fantastic way to learn letters! Expanding on his idea for that program, Steve has been busy since his move to South Carolina back in 2022 ideating and authoring the books, featuring the Alphabittles, which are colorfully drawn children who look like lowercase letters of the alphabet.
The B Hive is a charming story about a teacher who is educating her class about bees. As you might imagine, the little b character is a bit confused by this and doesn’t realize she is talking about insects, but thinks she is talking about him, and begins imagining all of the facts she shares from that perspective.
The room was packed as Mr. Steve read the story aloud to the kids and was met with giggles over the photos illustrated by Klaire Gieleghem, who also demonstrated how she draws the characters on a tablet. The story was cute and fun, and everyone was excited to buy one and have it signed by Steve and Klaire. There were also letter crafts and playing cards that could be purchased, and everyone who attended was given an Alphabittles bookmark.
There will be books released for each letter of the alphabet, but not in order. The next book in the series is about the letter F, and is called Fishing is Fun, about a father and son fishing together and catching some surprising things. Each book has a QR code in the back which brings the reader to a page that provides resources for further learning of that letter, including imaginative crafts and activities.
The B Hive book can be purchased on Amazon, and more information on the Alphabittles series can be found at www.alphabittles.com
