The Dangerous Alphabet

Look out for the objects in the illustrations starting with the same letter. I'm imagining teaching my kids the alphabet using this book, and feeling sorry for their teachers. :-)

Told through 13 rhyming couplets and accompanying illustrations, Neil Gaiman and Gris Grimly's The Dangerous Alphabet is a delightful (if suspiciously inaccurate) study of the alphabet. We follow the adventures of 2 children, their pet gazelle and their treasure map as they travel underground, on

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adventures both macabre and perilous, as the alphabet is presented in conjunction with the story.

The story is fun and the rhymes imaginative, but the art is the star here. Gris Grimly's illustrations bring the story to life, and really add an element of almost the grotesque to the story. From the almost rag doll likeness of the children, to the ghosts and ghoulies that inhabit the underground, Grimly's illustration are both beautiful and disturbing at the same time. Take time to study each page, as you'll discover something new each time you look at it.

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A well-illustrated poem depicting a pair of children entering into an underworld infested with pirates, monsters, and ghosts. While the theme is the alphabet, my wife (a former nanny) blanched in horror at the idea that this book could be used to teach a child their ABCs, and suggested it not be

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shown to children below the third grade.

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"The Dangerous Alphabet" is told in twenty-six alphabetical lines which comprise thirteen couplets. The story revolves around two young children, a boy and a girl, and their pet gazelle who on finding a treasure map strike out to find the treasure. Along the journey, they meet all kinds of nasty

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monsters and evil pirates who stand between them and the loot. When the girl is eventually captured, it's up to our young hero to save her. Will he find her in time, and will they uncover the treasure?

Considering he is writing in couplets that are to appeal to children, Gaiman does remarkably well in being creative and staying away from the "groan" factor. (The physical phenomenon in which a rhyme is so egregious you are forced to groan in disgust. I'd give an example, but I prefer to live without the resulting mail bombs.) But "The Dangerous Alphabet" truly lives and dies on the quality of its artwork. And Gris Grimly does an outstanding job here. Grimly's artwork is wonderfully stylistic and interesting, capturing a highly original look and feel and rendering it beautifully.

Last Word:
"The Dangerous Alphabet" should definitely appeal to young children, particularly children just learning the alphabet. While the story is not surprisingly simple in form, the amazing artwork should appeal to children of all ages.

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Probably not the best book if you are just learning to read.
However, if you are a bit older and like Neil Gaiman and/or things that go bump in the night...this is the alphabet book for you.

In this picture book, the alphabet takes one on an adventure through the strangely conceived illustrations of Gris Grimly. Here, A is for always, B is for boat, C is a metaphor for seeing, D is for Diamonds, E is for Evil, F is for fear, G is for Good, H is for help, I is for I am the author, J is

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for Joke, K is for kiss, L is for leavin, M is for mirrors, N is for night, O is for ovens, p is for piracy, q is for quiet, r is for river, s is for somewhere, t is for treasure, U is for U are the reader, W is for warnings v is for vile deeds, x is for marks the spot, y is the last question, and z waits alone. The artwork in this book is phenomenal, beautiful conceived in an abstraction of a dark, surrealistic, dream reality, with a cartooony twist. The intensity and substance of the artwork is of great importance to the creativity of this book, it makes it. The storyline on which the pictures follow is touch up; the art definitely makes this book.

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A ghastly abecedarian book containing a "dangerous flaw". This thin volume chronicles the piratical adventures of two small children and their pet gazelle.

The letters are not always represented in the text i.e. "C is the way that we find and we look". But you can have fun finding how many things

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beginning with each letter are in the picture. i.e. cat, clocks, candles, corpses, cauldron, calamari.

Recommended for ages 5 and up.

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I liked the book. But I was a bit disappointed to find a few inconstancies between drawings and the text, along with with the sister not doing a whole lot to save herself. I suspect the tween crowd will love this book.

A creepy, disturbing---but not necessarily in a good way---alphabet book. Two children take an underground journey and manage to survive, but others like them don't escape. Very detailed pictures. Good for Neil Gaiman fans who will see connections to his other work.

The creepiest alphabet book I've ever seen. Gaiman's picture books tend to redefine children's literature. This book has a dark, twisted little plot with strange, spooky illustrations. All's well that ends well, but it certainly makes for nightmarish bedtime reading. I absolutely recommend this

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book--think of it as a modern Grimm's (and I mean old school Grimm's full of demons and gore).

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This is a great, and very different alphabet book. Not only does it teach the letters of the alphabet, but it takes the reader on a lovely little adventure as well. This book would be great to use for introducing rhyme, and poetry, or just teaching the alphabet.

Dangerous Alphabet is an "A-is-for..." Alphabet book with a picture-driven plot and the text written in verse.

The poem itself is adequate but the illustrations are where the books shine, being interesting and crammed with detail, yet probably too detailed, subtle, and dark for many children.

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There's so much going on it might be hard to focus. As mentioned - despite very much being a children's book - it is dark and creepy, and should probably only be purchased for children with a taste for the macabre.
For most of the letters there are related animals, objects, and small details (such as llamas for L, and apples for A) but these are buried under other details. With so much going on the picture's plot is often obfuscated.

The actual poetry is fun, with the letters often standing for concepts and verbs instead of objects (A is for Adventure).

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Love this book! Creepy and weird, with great illustrations. Not your typical ABC, and that's a good thing.

The Dangerous Alphabet is a dark and captivating account of the alphabet through interesting word choice, rhyme and unique imagery. Letters are defined by both, sounds and placement in words. The book and illustrations are unlike any other alphabet book I have read and invite the reader to ponder

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each page for much longer than it would take to read the text. The vocabulary and imagery go hand-in-hand in terms of reading level and age appropriate text. I found each page to entertain a new aspect of language, including verb, noun, adjective use, and even synonyms. For example, “E’s for the Evil that lures and entices; F is for Fear and its many devices; G is for Good, as in hero, and morning; H is for ‘Help me!’ – a cry, and a warning.” I really enjoyed this book because of its unique nature and ability to touch on all aspects of writing and English language.

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I'm not sure how kids are going to react to this as a read aloud. The visual humor is slightly Gorey-esque and the text has Gaiman's word plays. I think I'll try it with 3rd grade to see how much they get.

Fabulous illustrations, nicely creepy story telling. Thoroughly worthwhile.

I judge you for using SMS-speak Neil!

A spooky way to teach the alphabet. (The inside cover proclaims this good for ages 5 and up!) Those kids who have a touch of the macabre may appreciate this story by Neil Gaiman, which recites the alphabet in a 26 line poem. (13 "ingenious but potentially disturbing rhyming couplets," according to

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the preface note.) The illustrations, by Gris Grimley, are what really flesh up this book, with wonderful details and muted tones that add to the spookiness of the tale.

The story itself follows two kids, a boy and a girl, and their pet gazelle, as they slip away from their distracted father to find buried treasure from a map. They visit the underground sewers of London and discover creatures of questionable morals. When his sister is kidnapped, the boy has to go off in search of her and rescue her. He does accomplish this but, in spite of finding the treasure, they do not emerge with any.

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I had expected more of this little book because of the praise lavished on it by other Shelfarians. Nice enough - not for small children though.

I think the book may be too scary for some parents, but I think kids would love it. I like that it offers a challenge for kids. It shouldn't be their first exposure to the alphabet, but once they generally know how it should go it is good that it challenges kids. The artwork is a gorgeous, and the

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mixture of scary creatures and doe eyed innocent children is well done.

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This is a fun story about two children who go on an adventure and come across scary things along the way. The story is told alphabetically. The colors of the illustrations are dark and dull, creating a scary feeling. Many skulls and unusual creatures are found throughout the story. This book is a

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good teaching tool for when students are learning the alphabet and the basic letters. This would be a good story to read around Halloween.

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The Dangerous Alphabet is an interesting and creepy take on a fairly innocent subject, the ABCs. While I don't think it's overly appropriate for very young children, it would be really fun for slightly older kids already somewhat familiar with the alphabet. The illustrations contrast the doe eyed,

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innocent-looking children and pet with the dark, nasty looking creatures.

This would be a fun book to read to students around Halloween. Students could also emulate Gaiman's creativity by making their own themed alphabet to go with a story.

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This is a wonderful book! Most ABC books are dreadfully boring and predictable. This one is so clever and fun to read, and has a story that goes along with the "alphabet." While saying that "C is the way that we find and we look," and things such as this may confuse early learners of the alphabet,

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it is a great thing for maybe those that know the alphabet already/mostly. The illustrations are wonderful and you find yourself spending a long time on each page just looking at the extremely detailed drawings.

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The Dangerous Alphabet is a pirate ghost story set told in the format of an alphabet book. Each pages represents one letter through illustrations and a rhyming couplet. The book also contains a "dangerous flaw" for the reader to find. The illustrations are scratchy ink filled in with watercolors.

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Many of the illustrations contain graphic and potentially disturbing images. I would use this with older students as a way to introduce atypical narrative formats in an English course.

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I've read a few Gaiman books over the past few months and I am now pretty certain that his appeal is largely to adults over children. This alphabet book though beautiful and full of creative lines, is far too advanced for anyone actually learning their alphabet, and what's more, the author admits

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in his forward that this version of the alphabet "is not to be relied upon" (the V and W swap places though it doesn't seem to have much effect on the loosely conceived plot). I appreciate that Gaiman doesn't shy away from darker material in children's books, but his genre seems to more authentically fall into "illustrated dark humor for adults with a nostalgic side"

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