Publisher: Philomel
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Once Upon an Alphabet is a picture book with an identity crisis. Each letter has a short story that accompanies it, but the stories themselves are dark and twisted, some with terrible consequences. The various letter alliterations work if you are familiar with the alphabet, but if you were a small child just now learning your ABCs, it would be a bit confusing. There is a reason why we use things like 'I is for Ice Cream' rather than 'I is for Irreverant'. Which is why I would say the audience for this book is really for older elementary school kids and adults, even though both groups already know their alphabet. To test this theory though, I read this book to my nephew one weekend. He is five and is doing very well learning how to spell and read. Although he sat through this entire book, the only comment he made and the only laugh I got out of him was the dead frog in the F story. My sister-in-law on the other hand, kept chuckling at the stories as she folded the laundry.
Personally, I like the stories and thought they were some fun dark humor. The problem is though that this book by format and subject matter, isn't for adults.
0 comments:
Post a Comment