When Jerry Pallotta was a boy, all the alphabet books were pretty much the same.

"A is for apple, b is for book, c is for cat," he monotoned Friday for Farrell first- and second-graders.

By the time he was having kids, the alphabet books he read to them had a familiar ring: "A is for apple, b is for book, c is for cat."

Pallotta decided to try his hand at writing an alphabet book, and looked to his own childhood in Medford and Scituate, Mass., for the theme: the ocean.

He published "The Ocean Alphabet Book" himself in 1986, starting what has become a prolific writing career, and gave him a new identity: "A guy writes alphabet books."

Pallotta, 48, has published 32 books and more than half are alphabet books, with titles such as "The Icky Bug Alphabet Book," "The Yucky Reptile Alphabet Book," "The Furry Animal Alphabet Book" and "The Vegetable Alphabet Book."

He also has written story books -- "Going Lobstering" and "Dory Story" -- and other educational titles, such as "The Twizzlers Percentages Book," "The Hershey's Kisses Addition Book" and "The Reese's Pieces Count By Fives Book."

Equipped with slides of his books, a tiger skull and a quick, dry wit, Pallotta didn't give advice or try to preach to the Farrell students.

But the subtext delivered by photos of his childhood and how his life fit into his works, and scribbled and edited first drafts support one of the most given pieces of writing advice: write what you know.

"My wife thinks I make it look easy," he said. "I forget how much I slaved over every book. Every book took a year."

About a year after "The Ocean Alphabet Book" came out, teachers started calling Pallotta to appear before their classes. The Boston resident now spends 100 days out of state a year and appears at 150 schools annually.

The school visits have been mutually beneficial.

""When you visit schools, you get a lot of ideas from the kids and from the classrooms," he said.

The book "Apple Fractions" was inspired by a classroom activity, he said.

Pallotta hasn't run out of ideas for books, but he does try to be original, and is proud of the books that appear to be unique.

"I've never seen a spice book for children," he said. "I've never seen an extinct book for children with no dinosaurs in it."

Although Pallotta's four children are teen-agers and beyond the age of his audience, he still likes to run his ideas by them. His son, Eric, has become a good sounding board.

"Sometimes he really gets me out of a rut," he said.

Pallotta, who has worked with seven illustrators, doesn't appear to be in a rut now. He's got four books in the works, one just out, "The Skull Alphabet," and one set to be released in a number of months, "Icky Bug Colors."

"I write all the time," he said. "Last night, I worked on 15 pages of a book."

The Georgetown University, Washington, graduate -- he majored in business -- and former insurance salesman said his business background helped him when he started publishing.

"I self-published my first four books," he said. "When I started out, I designed them myself. I hired the illustrators. Publishers pretty much let me do what I want."

Pallotta's Web site: www.alphabetman.com

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Joe Pinchot at jpinchot@sharon-herald.com