Back of Book:
Once upon a revolutionary time, two great American patriots tried to make life easier. They knew how hard it was to spell words in English. They knew that sounds didn’t match letters. They knew that the problem was an inconvenient English alphabet.
In 1786, Ben Franklin, at age eighty, and Noah Webster, twenty-eight, teamed up. Their goal? Make English easier to read and write. But even for great thinkers, what seems easy can turn out to be hard.
My Review:
I received a copy of this book from author Beth Anderson in exchange for an honest review.
I always love finding engaging historical nonfiction picture books to share in my classroom. An Inconvenient Alphabet tells the story of how Noah Webster and Ben Franklin attempted to rewrite the alphabet. Throughout the text, Anderson placed words that we use every day next to their more convenient spelling. It allows readers to visually see what Ben and Noah attempted to do. The illustrations are drawn in soft colors. I love the cat and dog that appear throughout the story. The back of the book has a fantastic note from the author about her research into the story. This is a great book to incorporate into an ELA or spelling unit.
Ages 6 and up
40 Pages
picturebooks4learning 