Alphabetical How every letter tells a story

Michael Rosen, 1946-

Book - 2015

"How on Earth did we fix upon our twenty-six letters, what do they really mean, and how did we come to write them down in the first place? Michael Rosen takes you on an unforgettable adventure through the history of the alphabet in twenty-six vivid chapters, fizzing with personal anecdotes and fascinating facts. Starting with the mysterious Phoenicians and how sounds first came to be written down, he races on to show how nonsense poems work, pins down the strange story of OK, traces our five lost letters and tackles the tyranny of spelling, among many many other things. His heroes of the alphabet range from Edward Lear to Phyllis Pearsall (the inventor of the A-Z), and from the two scribes of Beowulf to rappers. Each chapter takes on a... different subject - whether it's codes, umlauts or the writing of dictionaries. Rosen's enthusiasm for letters positively leaps off the page, whether it's the story of his life told through the typewriters he's owned or a chapter on jokes written in a string of gags and word games. This is the book for anyone who's ever wondered why Hawaiian only has a thirteen-letter alphabet or how exactly to write down the sound of a wild raspberry"--

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Subjects
Published
Berkeley, CA : Counterpoint [2015]
Language
English
Main Author
Michael Rosen, 1946- (author)
Physical Description
xv, 431 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781619024830
  • The story of A: A is for alphabet
  • The story of B: B is for battledore
  • The story of C: C is for ciphers
  • The story of D: D is for disappeared letters
  • The story of E: E is for e. e. cummings
  • The story of F: F is for fonts
  • The story of G: G is for Greek
  • The story of H: H is for h-aspiration
  • The story of I: I is for improvisation
  • The story of J: J is for jokes
  • The story of K: K is for Korean
  • The story of L: L is for LSD
  • The story of M: M is for music and memory
  • The story of N: N is for nonsense
  • The (true) story of O: O is for OK
  • The story of P: P is for Pitman
  • The story of Q: Q is for qwerty
  • The story of R: R is for rhyme
  • The story of S: S is for signs and sign systems
  • The story of T: T is for txtspk
  • The story of U: U is for umlauts
  • The story of V: V is for Vikings
  • The story of W: W is for Webster
  • The story of X: X marks the spot
  • The story of Y: Y is for yellow
  • The story of Z: Z is for zipcodes
  • The Oulipo olympics.
Review by Booklist Review

In this book, A is for Alphabet. But it could also be for Alterations, Ancient, or just Amazing. Rosen's account of 26 letters (and some that fell by the wayside) gives a brief history of the development and use of each one and then launches into engaging exploration of its past, present, and future. Along the way, readers learn which letter got its start as an Egyptian hieroglyph for fence, the ancient pedigree of do-re-mi, and where the name Häagen-Dazs came from. Rosen mixes in personal anecdotes with the history, resulting in a quirky and informative collection of fun tidbits. He celebrates some of the people who made their mark on our letters and gently pokes fun at the self-appointed guardians of language. Throughout, he applauds letters for their adaptability and variety of uses. A work about letters is also about literacy, and children's author and poet Rosen is passionate about teaching children effectively and thus enabling them to unlock the secrets of reading. The book entertainingly proves that the ABCs have something to teach us all.--Thoreson, Bridget Copyright 2015 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

What could be more straightforward than the alphabet? And yet those familiar 26 symbols offer much food for thought, as Rosen (We're Going on a Bear Hunt), former Children's Laureate of Britain, so delightfully shows here. His beguiling journey through the alphabet will entrance anyone interested in the quirks of language and its history. Each letter receives a brief description of its written evolution and the pronunciation of its name and its sounds, followed by a relevant topic beginning with that letter, such as "D is for Disappeared Letters" and "O is for OK." The chapter on Rosen's personal history with typewriters, "Q is for QWERTY," will be a particular highlight for readers of a certain age. The diverse topics he covers also include printing fonts, diacritics ("U is for Umlauts"), and the ways that the alphabet can be manipulated to encrypt secrets. Rosen has written a charming and thought-provoking book about what written language represents, how we use it, and the joys and mysteries therein. His humor and obvious love for his subject are winning elements. The individualized graphics of each letter at the start of their respective chapters add an extra note of whimsy and pleasure. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Author Rosen, the host of BBC Radio 4's "Word of Mouth," covers many topics in the context of the alphabet in this winding trip through language, letters, and other things of literary interest. Readers are likely to find out fascinating tidbits of information about topics they may not have explored before: ciphers, Beowulf, thorn and eth, reading instruction, horn books, typewriters, and more. Each chapter addresses a letter, with two to three pages of history and an accompanying essay that may have only the slimmest relation. In some cases, the letters are more of a jumping-off point than an alphabetical issue. So every letter does tell a story; it just might not be what you would expect for that letter. While some opinions may be disagreeable (Quit teaching handwriting to kids? Put representatives in charge of choosing reading?), the author certainly has a grasp on current education practices, including spelling reform. VERDICT The overall delivery is solid and comprehensive. Britishisms abound, but most Americans interested in the subject will find that easy enough to get around. It's like Oliver Jeffers's Once Upon an Alphabet for grown-ups.-Linda White, Maplewood, MN (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

A poet, writer of children's books and host of BBC Radio 4's Word of Mouth tells the history of each letter in our alphabet.Rosen (Fighters for Life: Selected Poems, 2007, etc.) shows a capacious curiosity and imagination in a work that, in lesser hands, would glaze the eyes of all but the most nerdy language freaks. He proceeds alphabetically (duh) but also in a sort of defiantly digressive way. For each letter, the author providesin sort of dictionary fashionsome of its history, evolution, pronunciation(s) and, for many, some "sound play" involving the letter. Regarding N, for instance, Rosen mentions "ninny," "no-no" and "nanny" (among others). These initial pages for each letter are informative and good for reference, but the remainder of each section is even better. For example, for C, he discusses ciphers, the Enigma code and even Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth I's spymaster. For K, he spends some time with Korean and with the recent YouTube phenomenon of "Gangnam Style." S takes us into signs and symbols, from Morse code to the International Phonetic Alphabet. And Z? ZIP codes. Along the way, we learn about Beowulf, e.e. cummings, George Bernard Shaw's disdain for the apostrophe, our fondness for initials, a bit about that old song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," the history of okay, the history of shorthand, why rhyme has an h, Noah Webster and the Urban Dictionary. Rosen also is mellow about "correctness" in usage and punctuation ("Our personal histories and feelings are wrapped up in what the letters and their means of transmission mean to each of us") and shows little sorrow for the disappearance of handwriting in schools; in fact, he thinks our current emphasis on it doesn't make much sense. A delightfully informative book about letters, their meanings, and the words and meanings we derive from them. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.