P Is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever

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P is for Pterodactylis an unusual alphabet book that features some of the English language's quirkiest words. In 2020, the sequel, No Reading Allowed: The Worst Read-Aloud Book Ever, was released by Sourcebooks Explore. I’ve long thought that the poor correlation of the sound of English words to their spelling needed to be highlighted. This humorous book does a great job of lampooning word-initial sounds versus word-initial letters. It should be a required textbook for all ESL classes!”

This title caught my eye as I am teaching the alphabet to my grandson and will soon be doing so for my granddaughter as well. It includes words that are not obvious subjects for children’s books (“quinoa”), as well as more usual ones (“knight” and “pteranodon ”), and words that are not really words at all (Roman numerals). With The Worst Alphabet Book Ever we get a comedic twist on the entire shelf of alphabet books. Ain’t nobody here but us words that fail to behave. Phonic teachers, eat your heart out. Sorry, phonetically that’s: eat your hart out. It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. a b Russo, Maria (October 19, 2018). "Standout New Picture Books". The New York Times . Retrieved March 11, 2019.Lakritz, Talia (November 23, 2018). "A children's book called 'P is for Pterodactyl' features the most bizarre words in the English language". Insider . Retrieved March 11, 2019. Beryl Exley is an experienced classroom teacher and lecturer in English Curriculum and Literacies Education with the school of Education and Professional Studies at Griffith University in Queensland. She is the immediate past National President of the ALEA National Council (2017–2019) and is a very proud ALEA Life Member. Beryl co-edited Literacies in Early Childhood: Foundations for Equity and Quality with Annette Woods in 2020 (published by OUP). a b c Jordan, Tina (January 25, 2019). "The Story Behind 'P Is For Pterodactyl,' The Self-Described 'Worst Alphabet Book Ever' ". The New York Times . Retrieved March 11, 2019. This book is really hilarious! My friend and I laughed like school children. I had to look up a few of the words for pronunciation, which was fun. Also, I really like the illustrations.”

Now generally and from a presented text proper point of view, I have truly found Raj Haldar and Chris Carpenter's P is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever both fun and lyrically, humorously engaging, with many included onomatopoeia, tongue twisters and other word-based joys and rhetorical delights (although indeed this is claimed with the necessary caveat that P is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever is most definitely and in my humble opinion much too advanced and too potentially, too easily confusing for young children first learning their letters and words and therefore more a book conceptualised for older children, and actually for anyone interested in the many and diverse vagrancies and conundrums of English language spelling and pronunciation). The authors had plenty to choose from. English has a long history of incorporating and adapting words from languages including Norse, Greek, Latin, French, German, and Hindi. In this entertaining chapter book, the first in a series, readers meet kind Sir Sidney and the gentle performers and hands in his circus. But Sir Sidney is tired and leaves the circus under the management of new-hire Barnabas Brambles for a week. P for Pterodactylwas written by Raj Haldar, also known as Lushlife, and Chris Carpenter, with illustrations by Maria Beddia. The color illustrations help demonstrate the context of each word, while clever sentences filled with alliteration make for a fun read. For instance, “The gnome yells, ‘Waiter! There’s a bright white gnat nibbling on my gnocchi!,' ” accompanies “G is for Gnocchi.” P Is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever - by Chris Carpenter and Maria Beddia was almost purpose built for me. Long before George Carlin asked about how the “w” in one got tangled into the otherwise “w” less two, or for that matter why it takes so many times to get to, too, two right? I was not getting the hang of spelling. “I: be fore "e" except after "c" is arbitrary enough if you are going to pretend away words like Chief, Believe and Field and there are others. I also have a clear memory of in class spelling bee when a friend of mine nailed Pneumonia while I was fortunately cautious enough to not call Bull, even as I was thinking it. (David got it right by realizing teacher was reading from a dictionary and was still in the letter “P” )This book is really for those who are good enough readers to relish the illogicalities of English spellings, rather than be oblivious to or frustrated by them. Of course, some of these words are used in the English language but taken from others, which makes the pronunciation quirks more understandable. Gnocchi is an Italian word for a specific type of pasta, while czar is a Russian word for emperor. Overall, the book is a fun way to get kids excited about languagein general and pique their curiosity about why we pronounce words in particular ways.