New Arrival: Alphabet Book: Take Away the A, by Michael Escoffier & Kris Di Giacomo

Take Away the A
Michael Escoffier, illustrated by Kris Di Giacomo
ISBN: 9781592701568
A combo alphabet and phonics procession, as if Edward Gorey worked in larger frames, with saturated, textured colors.

I really like this book.  I love this method of progressing though the alphabet, through phonemes and rhymes and subtractions.  Let me explain.  For the letter A, we begin with a lovely illustration of a trophy podium with first, second and third levels, with a hairy and be-toothed beast holding the trophy.  A duck is second, and a fish is third, while a vulture photographer commemorates the event.  What on earth does this have to do with the letter A?  Our text explains: "Without the A the BEAST is BEST."

Isn't that simply the coolest way to explain so many things about our language all at once?  I love it!

So, through the alphabet we go, with silly and sometimes slightly macabre illustrations guiding us to understanding: a pirate parrot illustrates that "Without the F, the SCARF hides a SCAR," a anthropomorphic empty glove follows an octopus through a crosswalk, because "Without the G, the GLOVE falls in LOVE" (with an octopus, of course, because there are many legs, tentacles, finger-sleeves, er, whatever!) and a very sweet spread leads us to see that "Without the I, STAIRS lead to the STARS."

The whole alphabet is like that, (well, except for z, because poor z just doesn't ever get any love.) although some of the latter, and less-well-represented letters have to stretch to get a story.

This would be excellent for teachers trying to explain phonemes and rhyming words.

Teaching Resource: The Sounds and Spelling Patterns of English: Phonics for Teachers and Parents, by Phyllis E. Fischer

The Sounds and Spelling Patterns of English: Phonics for Teachers and Parents
Phyllis E. Fischer
ISBN: 1881929019
Read March 30, 2015

An older (1993) but useful compilation of phonics and phoneme-based instruction that drills in the basic English constructions and when and where they appear, and what they "say" when they are in certain situations.  Very short, but direct and to-the-point, wasting no time on tangents or side-trips into teaching philosophy or any of that.  Just straight instruction, aimed at adults who wish to help other people learn to understand the workings of English better.

Very useful.  I'll probably get a copy for my own personal library.  I never remember learning to read, and my husband is dyslexic, and wasn't diagnosed until after he had gotten into college.  He has great troubles with English structure, and my own background of picking it up so naturally is a handicap now, because I have troubles explaining how it all works - just that I know it does.  Dyslexia is heritable, so this is me preparing for the worst if I ever have kids.  I want them to enjoy reading and writing, perhaps not as a hobby or job, but at least enough to always be comfortable as a reader.