A Very Silly Alphabet

A Very Silly Alphabet is a collection of poems that spotlights each letter of the alphabet. The poems range from five short lines to pieces that have up to four stanzas. Most of the poems have rhyming elements, some more forced than others, and many have an inconsistent meter. The content is indeed silly (as promised by the title), and some young readers will enjoy that. Unfortunately, a number of the poems are slightly boring, neither building tension nor delivering an exciting pay-off.

Each poem features its assigned letter and thus may be good practice for emerging readers. It should be noted, however, that the poems do not necessarily include the full variety of sounds that a given letter can represent. For example, the poem for G focuses almost exclusively on the hard “guh” sound, although it includes a number of words that end in “ing”.

The illustrations are colourful, appearing to use a variety of mediums such as ink and water-based colour of some type. Expressive and satisfyingly silly, they do a good job of reflecting the poems’ content, although they rarely add to it.

The illustrations do a great job of reflecting Canada’s diverse population. A variety of ethnicities are depicted. One character wears an hijab and another a patka. That the names used in the poems originate from a variety of cultures is lovely. There are no visible disabilities (not even a pair of glasses) to be seen.

While some readers will enjoy these silly poems, there are better titles available.