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).

Most children will agree the book is “smafunderful (smart + fun + wonderful).” (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 7-10) 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.

Neither of us are children’s book authors by trade — Chris is a computer programmer, and I’m a rapper otherwise known as Lushlife,” he said. “When we started down the road to bring this book to life, I don’t think we realized just how long the process would take. From start to finish, the project took almost three years to complete. Even though the book consists of just a couple hundred words, we went through scores of revisions. On top of that, we hardly knew anyone in the publishing world, so it took over a year just to find the right folks to help us get a publisher on board. Once we were able to cross that hurdle, our amazing illustrator, Maria Beddia spent a year in her studio working on the funny drawings. I can’t think of anyone else who could’ve so beautifully interpreted our crazy requests, like having ‘a french leopard and a tiny witch sitting in a creepy Victorian home playing the Ouija board.'” 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.”Let's get real―the English language is bizarre,” the book admits. “A might be for apple, but it's also for aisle and aeons. Why does the word ‘gnat' start with a G but the word ‘knot' doesn't start with an N? It doesn't always make sense, but don't let these rule-breaking silent letters defeat you!” Kirch, Claire (January 15, 2019). "Sourcebooks Launches Three Children's Imprints". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved March 11, 2019.

At first glance, this looks like a book for pre-schoolers, so I’m not sure how my nearly nine-year old niece will react when she unwraps it. I’m confident she’ll find it funny - but there’s also a book token/voucher inside. UPDATE: She was initially wary, then intrigued, but her 11.5-year old sister and their father were more taken by it. 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. It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.

Learn Art Online

In 2020, the sequel, No Reading Allowed: The Worst Read-Aloud Book Ever, was released by Sourcebooks Explore. Overall, though, I think this book will be enjoyed by those who love silliness, learning about words, and combining the two into one activity (so most dads should enjoy this one :p). 4 solid stars for this book.