ALPHAOOPS!: The Day Z Went First, by Alethea Kontis, illustrated by Bob Kolar

ALPHAOOPS!: The Day Z Went First, by Alethea Kontis, illustrated by Bob Kolar

What would happen if we created a more equitable alphabet? What if Z staged a protest and gained the support of a few fellow letters? So begins Kontis and Kolar’s uproariously funny and wacky alphabet book. What the reader loses in terms of traditional order is gained in the rebellious irreverence.  The anthropomorphic letters bicker and argue while they step in to take their turns.  Just how important is alphabet order, anyway? Children will still learn their letters and associated sounds and words, while being entertained by the shenanigans of the uprising. They will also gain a lighthearted understanding of group dynamics and problem solving. The illustrations are replete with three-dimensional letters with googly-eyes and tiny stick arms and legs. They not only express a range of emotion, but they band together to protest.  “B,” “A,” and “D” stand together to spell “bad” when they face off against “Z” and “Y’s” complaints. In the beginning, letters are brightly colored against a warm yellow background which lends a cartoonish flair and sets up mood shifts like the watery blue background for “Whale” and “Penguins” and the dark blue background for “Owl” and “Night.” The colors and spreads becoming increasingly loud and chaotic creating an accelerating tensions which ends in a carnival-like celebration for having completed the unorthodox alphabet. This book is an excellent way to entice and engross antsy language learners with drama and conflict.

(picture book, fiction, age 4-7)