Once Upon an Alphabet: Short Stories for All the Letters

by Oliver Jeffers

Other authorsOliver Jeffers (Illustrator)

Hardcover, 2014

Call number

E J

Collection

Easy / Picturebooks

Genres

Children's Books

Publication

Philomel Books (2014), Edition: Illustrated, 112 pages

Description

"From an Astronaut who's afraid of heights, to a Bridge that ends up burned between friends, to a Cup stuck in a cupboard and longing for freedom, this series of interconnected stories and characters explores the alphabet"--

User reviews

LibraryThing member nbmars

This book of “short stories for all the letters” is another remarkably creative and unconventional flight of imagination by the talented Oliver Jeffers (illustrator of The Day The Crayons Quit).

For each letter, Jeffers tells a little story, accompanied by adorable pictures. Some of the stories

are even connected to one another - for example, to find out the answer to a dilemma posed at “E” you need to refer to “N,” and the cup that breaks in “C” reappears in “O” and “T”.

Some stories feature alliteration, like M:

"Mary is made of matter.
So is her mother.
And her mother’s moose.

In fact, matter makes up everything
from magnets and maps to
mountains and mattresses.”

All of them are humorous in a very quirky way, for example, W:

"The ingenious inventor [we learned about him at the letter “I”] had
a favorite invention of all -
the Whiraffe.

It had the head of a whisk
and the body of a giraffe.

They became great friends over
the years and enjoyed strawberries
and whipped cream.”

“P” and “R” and “S” are especially hilarious (and “S” is also connected to “O”). Some of them have dark beginnings but happy endings. To me they show a respect for the complexity and perceptiveness of young minds not often acknowledged by authors for books for this age group.

Evaluation: The witty wordplay and whimsical pictures will delight readers of all ages. For ages 5 through adult.

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15 more

LibraryThing member melissarochelle

Read on November 02, 2014

A book of silly short stories for every letter of the alphabet. Cute illustrations, fun rhymes, and a sense of the wacky -- this isn't great for story time, but fun for an older kid.

LibraryThing member amrahmn

Funny collection of very short stories from A to Z. I loved how dry the humor was and the fact that the alliteration was somewhat subtle; it made for more interesting stories. There was also a nice tie-in between stories. I would definitely use this to teach alliteration and story structure.

LibraryThing member melodyreads

nice, long book with short stories, some serious, some funny.

would be a good writing exercise book - stories don't have to be long; alliteration.

LibraryThing member KaylaAnn715

This book is now one of my favorite children's books. This book at the beginning explains how each letter is going to have their own story- so this is very unlike any other picture book with the alphabet. In this story, each letter gets a crazy, insane, hystarical story to go along with their

letter. None of the stories are similar, except there are two stories that go hand and hand (when the elephant asks how many elephants can fit in an envelope.) One of the crazy stories is on letter J where the woman loves Jelly so much that she makes her door out of Jelly so that if she forgets something she can just stick her hand back in the door. Crazy! This story adds in humor, comedy, and creativity to help students understand the alphabet and give them stories that go along with the letters so that it sticks! Loved this book.

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LibraryThing member lustig

great graphic qualities

LibraryThing member laineyh

I grew to appreciate Oliver Jeffers in his book This Moose Belongs to Me, and fell even more in love with this book, especially as an ABC book. To start, the title page looks like a signature Jeffers book so it was easy for me to find and choose as one of the ABC book options. In this book, each

letter is written in enormous letter in bot the capital and lower case form and then is accompanied by a story. I loved the illustrations in this book and I did enjoy how each letter had its own story which would make it easier for children to remember. I thought some of the stories were a little darker and quirkier for being a book about the ABC’s, but at the same time, I feel like this book is more of a tribute to the alphabet rather than a tool to use to teach children. I found that the addition of the darkness of the stories made it so it could be enjoyed by adults reading, as well as older children. I think that this book, though you would have to be careful with parental approval for the darker material, could be used to inspire youth to create their own stories for each letter of the alphabet. I think that creative writing is something that is often lacking in public school and a project and reading such as this would allow students to expand their minds and write more creatively.

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LibraryThing member kacieholt

This book is a modern ABC book with a retro flair. Each letter has two to three pages of illustrations to go along with a short story which includes lots of words that begin with that letter. Sometimes the stories rhyme, sometimes they don’t. Some of the lower case letters are in cursive, some

aren’t. Some of the stories have a moral to tell and some are just silly.

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LibraryThing member CommunityLibrarian

Stories are made of words and words are made of letters. This is a book of letters that each have their own story. I LOVE THIS BOOK. Each letter has its own story and characters from previous letters appear in the stories of other letters. This book is full of humor and is just plain fun.

LibraryThing member NatalieCJones

A book about the alphabet

LibraryThing member Kaethe

Amusing, very short stories for each letter of the alphabet.

Library copy

LibraryThing member michelleannlib

Reminds me of Shel Silverstein's work... I very much enjoyed it. Fun read!

LibraryThing member AbigailAdams26

Immensely talented author/artist Oliver Jeffers presents twenty-six amusing short stories, some interrelated, in this marvelously entertaining alphabet book. Opening with Edmund the astronaut, who recurs in the Z/Zeppelin entry, the brief vignettes here are by turns hilarious and intriguing, and

will leave readers and listeners wanting more...

Part picture-book, part story-collection, Once Upon an Alphabet is a title that will have appeal for children of a variety of ages. As always with Jeffers' books, the humor here was very appealing. I liked the Father Ted reference in the F entry ("Careful Now"), and that the E and N entries were interrelated. I also (of course!) loved the Owl/Octopus duo who recurred in a number of the stories. Recommended to all Oliver Jeffers fans, to anyone looking for alphabet books that are a little different, and to those seeking picture-books with a more extensive text.

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LibraryThing member childrenslitpdx

This book really makes it fun to learn the alphabet. Not only is there a small story and humorous drawings to go with each letter, but each story is also filled with words that start with the letter that the story is written for. I also liked the idea that many of the stories linked up together,

which then could lead to the child going back and re-reading, basically solidifying his knowledge of a particular letter and the words associated with it. The fact that the illustrations depict exactly what is written in the story is great also, because a child then makes that oral and visual connection with the letters.

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LibraryThing member Jahnavee

A set of short stories featuring each letter of the alphabet.

LibraryThing member jennybeast

The brilliance of this book is hard to overstate.

I
deeply.

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