Short Stories for All the Letters - Once Upon an Alphabet

I heard about this book on NPR and it caught my attention, so I ordered it as soon as I got home to surprise my two boys (4 and 6). We have really enjoyed this collection of stories! The stories are funny, well-written, and kept everyone's attention all the way though. It a good type of different and I think that's why it works so well.

My granddaughter and I have giggled a d laughed over The Day The Crayons Quit a number of times. I SO anticipated this book, but it isn't as charming. Hope to become more fond of it as we read it together after Christmas, which is when she will receive it. Just thinking about the CRAYONS makes me laugh right now!

I have three boys ages 9, 6, and 2 years of age. This book was a big hit with all three. They were all excited to get another book by one of their favorite authors. Oliver Jeffers seems to have a magic way with children's literature. His stories are whimsical and entertaining. They ask to read his books over and over again.

This is such a cute book. We love how each letter has it's own little story and many of them are intertwined with others (see letter "n" for the answer to how many elephants can you fit in an envelope)! Both my 7 year old 'chapter book addict' and my 4 year old 'picture books only' enjoyed reading it. It's a winner!

People take themselves too seriously if they think this isn't a kids book. It does have a darker side, which is both what makes it funny and what makes it one of Oliver Jeffers best books, yet. My 6 and 10 year olds both love this and its a favorite in our book rotation. There may be letters that smaller kids don't "get" the joke on, but that means this is a book with some growing room. And don't let the fact that its a book about letters scare you off from buying it for older kids. Its a long book and has great pictures, older kids will love it. Also, Author Jeffers is British, in general maybe a group that appreciates a darker and slightly more dry sense of humor. It probably is either a love or hate, so you might want to try to find it in a bookstore before committing. But we are very happy to have it in our collection. I am so bored by most kids books and as a parent having to re-read inane books makes me crazy. So I for one appreciate Jeffers and very few other authors that aren't following the "formula" for kids books and instead doing something witty and truly original. It also reminds me a bit of my childhood, when books, cartoons and activities in general weren't so bubble-wrapped for safety and scrubbed for political correctness.

Beautiful book. Heard about it when the author was interviewed on NPR. It has some great quirky drawings and even a little bit of a storyline. Would probably be good for a child at least 5 and up. It's not small. It's kind of coffee table sized.

Jeffers has done it again. This book has not been put down since it arrived by my 5 year old and I can't blame him. Thanks for making us laugh! We look forward to more stories being solved by the owl and the octopus. :)

Great book for young children learning the alphabet and great for them to read as they get older. Very pleased with it as I am with the other book by the same author and illustrator, "The Day the Crayons Stopped."

I heard the interview on NPR today and was immediately intrigued by the idea of a story-per-letter. I downloaded the book to Kindle and enjoyed all the stories and the very entertaining illustrations very much. It's a very quick read that made me smile all the way through. There's much good imagination in here...and I think I will enjoy re-reading it many more times.

It's very dark, morbid and creepy. De-sensitizing children to violence, death, .... It's like a kids version of Hannibal. It has actual illustrations of violent death, suicide, a little girl juggling with knives...etc. It also has themes of antisocial behavior- plotting revenge. Sent it back!

We received this as a gift. To those who say it's not morbid ... yes it is. This is highly inappropriate for toddlers. This book has a lot of death, people getting hurt, your house being torn apart by a storm and falling out of bed to your death, getting struck by lightning etc. My 4 year old understands death, life, pain, happiness, storms... we live in the mountains & have storms often. However, 4 year olds are literal. I don't need her thinking our house will tear apart and she will fall to her death from rolling over in bed. Would not recommend at all.

While reading this to my five year old tonight, I was laughing so hard I was crying. The stories are dark, morbid and short, but brilliant. The stories are clever, unexpected and funny. I have three young kids and we have spent years reading bubbly happy children's books full of cute characters. This is not one of those books. In the way that Roald Dahl and Lemony Snicket believed that children were capable of understanding and exploring the rude, the gross, and the morbid, so too apparently does Oliver Jeffers. My son loved the book, though I suspect much of it went over his head. It definately pushes the boundaries of children's literature. Given the complexity of the vocabulary and abstract nature of most of the jokes, despite being an alphabet book it's best for kids 5 and up. Frankly I'm surprised that it got published at all and suspect that if Oliver Jeffers weren't so popular right now it wouldn't have. I'm thrilled that we got to enjoy it.

I would have to agree that this is not a great book for a 3 year old. I know because I have a 3 year old. She was not too impressed. She liked shouting out the letters, but the stories were lost on her. I however, loved the book.

We have been big fans of Jeffers, my 3 year old and I. She likes his book "Stuck" and "Lost & Found." Whatever book he puts out, we will definitely give it a chance. Those who have read his work should be familiar with his irreverent but sweet stories; strange but funny and often with heart. You can find that here in OUaA. The astronaut afraid of heights, the owl & octopus that solve problems, Danger Delilah the superhero who has to be home for dinner; these are some of his stories.

As I said, my daughter was a bit too young for them, but they reminded me of my grade school years. We used to pass Shel Silverstein books back and forth and these tales have an air of his about them, though only some of them rhyme. To use a more modern comparison, OUaA is in the same vein as Lemony Snicket & Jon Klassen.

So while maybe not for a 3 year old, I can see a 3rd grader or other early reader holed up with this book, reading and laughing at the private jokes between author and reader. I wouldn't say that this book is dark. It is more like a humorous and satirical take on an alphabet book. One that I think (older) kids would love.

DO NOT BUY THIS FOR YOUR CHILDREN. I am dumbfounded as to why this book is on a bestseller list of *children's* stories, though it makes a little more sense when I read some of the reviews posted here. I don't believe they're from parents or actual buyers - they mostly repeat what is said in the sales description. I heard the NPR interview with the author. They made the book sound like a light-hearted collection of stories about each letter of the alphabet. I was so excited to order this book in anticipation of my friend's son turning 3 years old next month. But the book arrived at my office today and I shared it with other parents and we all agree that the book is NOT APPROPRIATE for children who are even 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12 years old, and by those ages, they've already learned the alphabet.

Here is what's really inside this book:
- Incredibly DARK, morbid and creepy stories. Examples: A child setting a bridge on fire (try to get a 4 year old to understand the metaphor of burning bridges why don't you), a woman falling off a cliff to her death, a cup jumping to its death, a man being electrocuted. The stories might be amusing for 20-somethings at a cocktail party, not for young children learning the alphabet.
- Words that a child just learning the alphabet would not understand. Would your 5 year old understand what an "enigma" or a "molecule" is?
- Insulting and discouraging language, such as calling one character lazy and another character stupid.

I was very disappointed and will be searching for a much more appropriate birthday present.

This isn't your typical alphabet book. If your child has a sly, slightly dark sense of humor, they may love it. It's primarily for mature six-year-olds on up. Most mature six-year-olds can already read which is good as there are advanced words in this book like enigma. The illustrations charm. Each letter of the alphabet gets a short story about it with lots of alliteration. P is for puzzled parsnip, for example, who keeps thinking he's a carrot. Finally persuaded that he's a parsnip, he meets a peanut and claims the peanut is a parsnip, too. That kind of humor.

Didn't care for the burning bridge story as much. Loved the monkeys. If your child is sensitive or gets scared easily, you may want to check out the book first. I'd introduce it by saying it's supposed to be really silly and funny. Don't take it too seriously, in other words. 5 stars for ingenuity and for the right child at the right age. The illustrations amuse.

Wit and dry humor, however as a parent of a 3, 6, and 10 year old- not one of them would appreciate these stories as they are somewhat negative and deflating letter after letter. This is a book for the dry humored adult, not a bedtime story book as I had hoped.

I love this book. My 4 year old has been a reluctant learner of the alphabet, and so I went to the library and looked at all of the alphabet books to try to find something fun for us to read together. He's much more into transportation than animals or dinosaurs...for some reason my library had a ton of animal and dino alphabet books. This was the only one that had a bit of a transportation theme..at least I thought so from the cover. But it's much more than that. The short stories are so funny and witty, and we really enjoy reading it together. His favorite story is S about the silly "regular cucumber" who wanted to swim like a sea cucumber...he loved it so much that we bought 2 books, one for us at home and one for his junior kindergarten class.

My kiddo loves it. I see it as recommended for Grade1+, so perhaps the negative reviews are because it's advanced for a 3yo. I like that it takes learning the alphabet, i.e. 'an alphabet book' to the next level and is short stories based on knowledge of the alphabet. Idioms, adventures and wicked weird peak the interest of my 5 yo boy who's already mastered the alphabet and likes monsters and scary stuff! Hooray for Jeffers - just wish I'd ordered two because our copy already has a tear and wrinkles! (It's not even very wicked or weird in my opinion!)

This is a charming, funny, clever book that will delight both adults and children. My daughter is a librarian at a private school, and she brought home the book to review. We both laughed out loud at the wonderful illustrations and the oh-so witty text. I couldn't order a copy for our personal library fast enough. We both re-read the book at different times and kept saying, "did you see....did you get the part with...., etc." I know "Crayons" is big right now, but this one is a true joy! My grandsons are coming to visit, and I can't wait to show it to them.

Delightfully weird in the tradition of Edward Gorey but also uniquely Jeffers.

I wonder about the uses for this as it is quite bulky but I suppose it could be read in any number of ways.

I like the over-arching nature of the stories (particularly the Owl and the Octopus) and how some letters (E and N) tie back to each other. Very, very clever.

You can sort of see how all of Jeffers' other works have been moving toward this one.

I also feel like there is something to be done here integrating this one with work on flash fiction.

How much fun can reading a picture book about the alphabet be? About four nights worth of fun as a bedtime story or for story time.

Author/illustrator, Oliver Jeffers has created a jumble of fun short stories for each of the letters of the alphabet. Inspires creativity in both writing and illustrating.

Published by Philomel Books.

#PB #concept #ABCs

This book has a great sense of humor, with a variety of different stories, and cute artwork. The people saying this isn't appropriate for children are sheltering their kids from barely dark humor, and focusing all their attention on extremely specific benign aspects of this book that no child would come close to taking in a violent way as the parents expect them to. The stories are clever, the characters are funny, and the plots all have a different theme to them. If you want your child to learn how to be real, and to be awesome, instead of sheltering them behind every negative of this world, then get them this book. The only improvement this book could have is to have more stories, but unfortunately there are only so many letters n the alphabet.

Loved it. It's our style of humor and my 5 year old boy asked for it night after night. I never once thought of it as dark. I found it quite humorous as did he. It's a nice reprieve from the run of the mill favorites. The sea cucumber was my favorite. Honestly, I never thought for a second that this book was "dark" until I read others reviews. I guess it depends on how seriously you take each story.

A favorite in my house - for both parents and kids. Our son gets the weirdness and jokes, but maybe that's unusual - for being 5, his sense of humor is pretty developed. He loves the drawings - and I never tire of reading it to him. Don't expect to read it all in one sitting if it's bedtime, though. It's long, so we do half the alphabet (or he picks the letters/stories he wants). He has learned to read pretty well by now and I think this book is one of those reasons. Personally I love the illustration style, and always look forward to see the latest from Oliver Jeffers.

This is a children's book that kids and parents can enjoy. I love the illustrations and the quirky humor as well as the subtle references to his other works. This was a present for my daughter and made the nightly top 10 list for several months.

SUMMARY: This is a book of stories, one of each letter of the alphabet. However, these are not cutsey stories one would expect from an alphabet book (which are usually written for children who are too young to read yet). B is for burning a bridge between two arguing neighbors. C is for a cup who accidentally smashes himself into pieces on the floor. D is for danger Delilah who stares the specter of death in the face. H is for half a house that was destroyed by a hurricane. L is for a lumberjack who keeps getting hit by lightening. P is for a very stupid parsnip.

ILLUSTRATIONS: The illustrations were created in ink and colored digitally. They are rather inconsistent. Some are very good as if time was taken on them and others were very crude. The handwritten words (of which there was plenty) was sloppy and so hard to read I skipped over it altogether.

THE GOOD: There were some clever and funny parts to this book that older children would enjoy, especially the owl and the octopus who keep showing up.
THE NOT SO GOOD: When I read an alphabet book, especially one advertised for ages 3-5, I expect it to be written on this age level. This book was not. It was full of violence, dark humor, and high vocabulary (such as E is for enigma).

AGE RECOMMENDATION: This book was written in such a way as to be suitable for ages 8-12.

I too bought this book because of the high ratings on other sites but I definitely agree with some people when they say it's inappropriate for children age 3, 4 even. It starts out promising with astronauts but then goes straight to burning bridges, literally and metaphorically confusing, to suicidal cups, danger girl who laughs in the face of death, threatening gorillas, lumberjacks being struck by lightening, terrified typists being eaten by monsters, a vengeful violinist, rusting robots, a starving king and more skeletons and references to death that I think are too much for young children to comprehend. Not a bed time story in the slightest. Older children may think those things are funny? If they have a dark and morbid sense of humour.

This book is hilarious. We got this for our 3 year old and he loves it. Sure he doesn't get the humor, but it's a really fun book for the parent's to read since you can get some enjoyment out of it. The negative reviewers here are way overreacting. Chill out and just enjoy some clever writing.

How can anyone write a new and different alphabet book. Buy Jeffers book to find out. It is an amusing, often laugh out loud book for adults, while any child struggling with the learning the alphabet will enjoy it AND LEARN.
There really are stories with each letter, short but genuine stories, and adults who read the book to children should point out how even concise works can use character development and plot.
A truly remarkable book for all ages, both with its stories and its drawings.
ernestschusky.com

This book is entirely inappropriate for young children just learning the alphabet. It has dark and snarky themes and concepts that might only appeal to some children who are well past the need for an alphabet book. Themes include death of people and animals and future school shooters. I feel strongly enough about this to caution other parents considering purchasing this book.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a really fun book to sit down and read fairly quickly. I love all of the pictures that the author used as a visual for what is happening in the actual stories. The author also tries to tie some of the stories together in a very creative way. Most of these other reviews say that this book is not exactly for children and I agree completely. There are some concepts and stories that are a little too much for a child to learn about depending on there age.

I agree with those who said this book is inappropriate for young children. I won't repeat their examples, but one that jumped out at me personally: To explain the concept of "forever" for the letter "f," the author describes a hole in the earth one could fall into and never reach bottom. I recall being spooked by that concept at the age of 9 by an older child who was a tease. It bothered me for some time, and I still remember that at the age of 65. I'd say a child needs a basic understanding of the way the world works -- like the basics of geology -- before introducing this "humorous" book to him or her.

This was a gift for my nephews, ages 4 & 6. Their dad reports that they both really like the book which he said surprises him as it is a little over their heads. Nonetheless, they ask him to read a couple of "letters" often. I think it's nice that they can read it in short segments like that so that the 4 year old doesn't get bored. It also opens up deeper discussions with the 6 year old.

Beware ever becoming a brand, my sweet, for that way lies nothing but unhappiness and ruin. Or not. I think the only real and true problem with becoming extremely popular in your field is that you have to battle on some level the ridiculous expectations others set for you. You did “X” and “X” was popular? Make another “X”! Creativity is haphazard and in the children’s book biz even the most popular illustrators do jobs that simply pay the bills. Such is NOT the case with Oliver Jeffers’ “Once Upon an Alphabet”. I have seen Jeffers do books that were merely okay and some that didn’t quite pass muster. I have also seen him be consistently brilliant with a style that is often copied, whether artistically or in tone. Yet in his latest book he does something that I honestly haven’t really seen before. Each letter of the alphabet is worthy of a story of its own. Each one distinct, each one unique, and all of them pretty much hilarious. No other author or illustrator could do what Jeffers has done here or, if they did, the tone would be entirely off. Here we have an abecedarian treat for older children (at least 6 years of age, I'd say) that will extend beyond Jeffers’ already gung-ho fan base and garner him new devotees of both the child and adult persuasion.

“If words make up stories, and letters make up words, then stories are made of letters. In this menagerie we have stories, made of words, made for all the letters.” So begins “Once Upon an Alphabet”, a book that seeks to give each letter its due. The tales told vary in length and topic. For example, “A” is about Edmund the astronaut who wants to go on an “adventure” and meet some “aliens” “although” there’s a problem. “Space was about three hundred and twenty-eight thousand, four hundred and sixteen feet above him . . . and Edmund had a fear of heights.” Many of the stories seen here rely on a twist at their conclusion. Danger Delilah may laugh in the face of Death but she’ll book it double time when her dad calls her for dinner. And then there’s Victor, plugging away on his vengeance. Told with wit and humor these tales are each and every one consistently amusing and enjoyable.

One thing that sets Jeffers apart from the pack is his deft wordplay. He has always been as comfortable as a writer as he is an illustrator or artist. Examining the tales I saw that some of the stories rhyme and others do not. This could potentially be off-putting but since each letter stands on its own I wasn’t bothered by the choice. The book could also be a very nice writing prompt title, not too dissimilar from Chris Van Allsburg’s “The Mysteries of Harris Burdick”. Once kids get the gist of what Jeffers is doing here they could be encouraged to write their own letter-inspired tales.

As for the art, it’s recognizably Jeffers, but with a twist. A close examination of the book shows that Jeffers changes up his artistic style quite a bit. While I’d say all his art is recognizably Jeffersish, his choices are fascinating. What determines whether or not a character gets a nose? Why is the terrified typist of “t” made so realistic while Ferdinand of “F” is done in a more cartoony style? Then there’s the use of color. Generally speaking the book is black and white but is shot through with different colors to make different points.

You also begin to read more into the illustrations than might actually be there. When the elephant dutifully eats nearly nine thousand envelopes in answer to a riddle, he is directed to do so by a nun who is keeping score. Adults will see this and wonder if it’s the equivalent of that old riddle about how many angels will dance on the head of a pin. I know the nun is there because the letter is “N” but that doesn’t stop me from seeing a connection. Other times there are connections between letters that aren’t explicitly mentioned but that will amuse kids. The owl and octopus that search and correct problems fix the cup that made an unseemly break (literally) for freedom at the letter “C” only for it to break again around the letter “T”. Then there are the back endpapers, which manage to wrap up a number of the stories in the book so subtly you might not even realize that they do so. See the frog hit on the head with a coin? That’s the ending to the “F” tale. And a closer reading shows that each person on the back endpapers correlates to their letter so you can read the alphabet found on the front endpapers through them. Pretty slick stuff!

I guess the only real correlation to this book is Edward Gorey’s “Gashlycrumb Tinies” alphabet. Even if the name sounds familiar I’m sure you’ve heard it. “A is for Amy who fell down the stairs. B is for Basil assaulted by bears.” I’ve often thought that Jeffers’ sense of humor owes much to Gorey’s. You see it in letters like “H” which features a woman falling off a cliff or “T” where an author meets an untimely end at the hands (or, more likely, mouth) of a monster. And like Gorey, Jeffers is capable of giving potentially gruesome and macabre poems an almost sweet edge. Gorey’s stories dealt well in funny melancholy. Jeffers, in contrast, in a form of humor that turns tragedy on its head.

From what I can tell the book is pretty universally loved. That said, it is not without its detractors. People who expect this to be another alphabet book for young children are bound to be disappointed. No one ever said alphabet books couldn't be for older kids as well, y'know. And then there's one criticism that some librarians of my acquaintance lobbed in the direction of this book. According to them some letter stories were stronger than others. So I read and reread the book to try and figure out which letters they might mean. I’m still rereading it now and I’m no closer to finding the answer. Did they not like the daft parsnip? The missing question? The monkeys that move underground? I remain baffled.

Or maybe I just like the book because it ends with a zeppelin. That could also be true. I really like zeppelins. I am of the opinion that 90% of the picture books produced today would be greatly improved if their authors worked in a zeppelin in some way. Heck, it’s even on the cover of the book! But if I’m going to be perfectly honest with you, I suspect that even if you removed every last zeppelin from “Once Upon an Alphabet” I’d still like the puppy. A lot. A lot a lot. You see Jeffers knows how to use his boundless cleverness for good instead of evil. This book could be intolerable in its smarts, but instead it’s an honestly amusing and tightly constructed little bit of delving into the alphabet genre. It remains aware from start to finish that its audience is children and by using big long fancy dance words, it never talks down to kids while still acknowledging the things that they would find funny. All told, it’s a pip. No picture book alphabet collection will be complete without it.

For ages 6 and up.

I have read this book in college for my English 103 class. I think this book is best suited for mature audiences. If you are interested in short stories, then this is the book for you. Although this book has cute cartoons, the content of the book is suited for teenagers and adults. Children will not understand what is happening in this book.

One of our new favorites! Not surprisingly, another witty and fun book from Jeffers. My 4 1/2 year old loves these stories and we enjoy reading them. Imaginative and entertaining with great illustrations!

A perfect follow up from his fantastic book "The Day the Crayons Quit" Jeffers brings "Once Upon an Alphabet", a series of little stories of a young astronaut and all the letters of the alphabet. With cute illustrations and witty short stories, this book is a great bedtime read for kids, and smartly done to appeal to those adults who read them. It may not be a quick read all in one night for the kids but could be read in a chapter style format for the really young ones.

This could very well be another great hit for Jeffers, and certainly a decent addition to your kids library and a book that will be read over and over again.

I have this book for my 3 year old and none of the stories are on her level. I'd imagine the dry humor and complex concepts aren't appropriate (or appreciated) by most under 10.
Some examples of what has confused my 3 yo the most are:
*An astronaut afraid of heights who can only go 3 feet up, so he has 328,413 feet to go out of 328,416 feet to space.
*"Laughing in the face of death" and "dancing at the door of disaster" with both Death and Disaster personified.
*A "forever" hole where a penny drops forever and the little boy and frog, who watch the penny fall, at the end are old and dead, respectively.
*A typewriter where whatever is written comes true. The first page shows a typist and huge monster. The next page shows just the typewriter and a typed page, which reads "the monster has a taste for typists".
Not only are they difficult concepts, they are often macabre. This book is not for any child who is still young enough to be learning the alphabet.

I am not a big fan of this book. We received it as a gift for my 3 year old son. I loved the crayon book, so I was looking forward to that style of writing. Not so much in this book. I didn't pre-read it before reading it with my son, but I was not expecting all the dark and morbid references for a children's book. I continued reading, thinking it would lighten up, but to no avail. While I can appreciate that it's witty and funny for an adult with dry humor, it's scary and introduces inappropriate ideas to an impressionable 3 yr old. I wouldn't call this a children's book.

THIS BOOK is soooooo great. I love the size of the book and the bright neon orange of the jacket. I LOVE the style of art and the cute and clever mini stories filling the book. Also love how each letter's mini story uses words starting with that letter. I highly recommend ordering this book for a fun spunky alphabet book. Also, great for adults to read, you will enjoy reading this book to your kids.

Perfect for 2nd grader. She has read a story a night to her younger sister. This is a children's book and other reviews are looking way too deep into context. My daughters like it and haven't asked a thing negative about the storyline. Illustrations are a plus.

My 7 year old LOVES this book. She adores the illustrations, quirky humor, vocabulary, and haze of the "odd." Plus it is so entertaining for adults. It's kind of like a tiny bit sweeter version of an Edward Gorey tale with more accessible artwork for kids!

Perfect! I teach 2nd grade and this is a great one-per-day read aloud. I use it to open our carpet time and each day the lessons can take us from five to 15 minutes. I get to teach them about figurative language, authorial intent and authorship, collegiate vocabulary, and the lessons and morals to be taught by each story. It is a great text and you can go as deep with it as you want to, need to, or are equipped to! I would use this in any classroom really, K-5!

My favorite Oliver Jeffers book. My 6 year old loved Owl and Octopus and how they fit into the rest of the stories in the book. This is a fun book to interact with kids. I let my daughter point out how the stories connect through the different characters and gave her hints when they would pop up further along. We laughed through the whole book. An adorable comedy for kids. Life isn't all happy stories teach your children how to laugh about and understand both the light and darker side of things.