WILTON – A love of words and using them to write brought Maine author Wendy Ulmer to Cushing School on Wednesday.

Reading from her latest children’s book, “A Isn’t For Fox, An Isn’t Alphabet,” students in Pam Brooks’ second-grade class were then eager to share their words in a writing exercise led by Ulmer of Arrowsic, a town near Bath.

Asked for words to describe a previous Earth Day activity, the children quickly raised hands to offer trash, recycle, go green and weeding. Tapping their fingers on their knees as Ulmer tapped her foot, she explained rhythm to the students and how she walks while writing to develop the rhyme used in the alphabet book.

It’s not the usual alphabet book where A stands for apple and B for boy.

“A isn’t for fox. A isn’t for box. A is for ants that crawl over your socks,” Ulmer read to the children.

With colorful illustrations, the book, published last year, can be used to teach the alphabet, rhyme or about animals, Ulmer told the children.

Ulmer, who taught English and music in Bath for 21 years, said he enjoys sharing her work with school children.

“I want to share my love of words and help young ones understand they are going to have to read and write the rest of their lives,” she said.

Ulmer wrote her first book, “A Campfire for Cowboy Billy,” while riding to Pennsylvania to attend her father’s funeral. Her father, Bill, liked cowboys and she didn’t want younger members of the family to forget him. She showed the students the original copy handwritten in pencil on lined paper. It was published in 1997.

She is currently working on her third book, “Counting to None,” she said.