A CALL FOR A NEW ALPHABET

Weary of being stuck near the end of the ABCs and saddled with the same old “xylophone” and “x-ray” all the time, the letter X campaigns for a new alphabetical order and a different job in this wry variation on Althea Kontis’ Alpha-Oops!, illustrated by Bob Kolar (2003), and Steve Metzger’s The Mixed-Up Alphabet, illustrated by Jannie Ho (2007). Sowing discontent among the other letters (“Q, aren’t you bored to tears being stuck next to U? You two have to share nearly every word that you’re in”) and incidentally covering several English spelling rules, X engineers a vote. He changes his mind, however, after a night’s exhausting dreams about silent letters, pronunciations that vary, the different ways plurals are formed and the fact that vowels have to be in every word. U comes clad in underwear and brandishing an umbrella, T sports a toupee and the other letters bear similar luggage in Czekaj’s comical, freely drawn cartoon renditions. A clever use of a familiar but not stale premise to clue new readers in to some of our written language’s little foibles. (Picture book. 6-8)