P Is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever

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If you’re a dinosaur, all your friends are dead. Cute and dark at once, All My Friends Are Dead is a hilarious book that shows the down side of being anything from a snowman to a tree. It’s the saddest funny book you’ll ever read. 2. No Reading Allowed: The Worst Read Aloud Book Ever Ewe, eulogy, pterodactyl, psychic, you, and why were some great examples, and I liked that they covered the Greek root for pterodactyl in the glossary. These databases contain citations from different subsets of available publications and different time periods and thus the citation count from each is usually different. Some works are not in either database and no count is displayed. Scopus includes citations from articles published in 1996 onwards, and Web of Science® generally from 1980 onwards. Now generally and from a presented text proper point of view, I have truly found Raj Haldar and Chris Carpenter's P is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever both fun and lyrically, humorously engaging, with many included onomatopoeia, tongue twisters and other word-based joys and rhetorical delights (although indeed this is claimed with the necessary caveat that P is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever is most definitely and in my humble opinion much too advanced and too potentially, too easily confusing for young children first learning their letters and words and therefore more a book conceptualised for older children, and actually for anyone interested in the many and diverse vagrancies and conundrums of English language spelling and pronunciation). Word nerds rejoice! Someone finally wrote a book that gives the nod to the quirks of the English language. The title, P Is For Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever, is not a judgment; it’s the actual name of the book!

As a teacher for many years and of many second language learners, I enjoyed this alphabet book that humorously points out some of the inconsistencies or unusual pronunciations in the English language. A few of the choices were a bit odd, and I do wish they had included a bit more information (either in the glossary or in supplemental note). For example, notes about which languages some of the words came from (or even a mention that many of them do come originally from other languages) would have been beneficial. Yet I appreciated the humor of the book. Let's get real—the English language is bizarre. A might be for apple, but it's also for aisle and aeons. Why does the word "gnat" start with a G but the word "knot" doesn't start with an N? It doesn't always make sense, but don't let these rule-breaking silent letters defeat you! In 2020, the sequel, No Reading Allowed: The Worst Read-Aloud Book Ever, was released by Sourcebooks Explore. Then there are also those letters in the negative, such as "U" is not for You and "Y" is not for Why. So, what are "U" and "Y" for? I guess that is why this is the worst alphabet book; you have to accept those disappointments.

Customer reviews

P Is for Pterodactyl" is a word lover's delight and an almost mandatory read-aloud... Amid all the humor, wordplay, and silliness, there's solid, brain-teasing information about words and how they're spelled. It a delight from start to finish, especially for word lovers and their offspring." — Common Sense Media From the Publisher I was impressed by this book. It kept a child amused for a couple of readings and taught her a few ideas about silent letters and English spelling. In this entertaining chapter book, the first in a series, readers meet kind Sir Sidney and the gentle performers and hands in his circus. But Sir Sidney is tired and leaves the circus under the management of new-hire Barnabas Brambles for a week. Let's get real-the English language is bizarre. A might be for apple, but it's also for aisle and aeons. Why does the word "gnat" start with a G but the word "knot" doesn't start with an N? It doesn't always make sense, but don't let these rule-breaking silent letters defeat you! A book for older kids and language nerds everywhere, focusing mainly on the English language but not exclusively. What sense do these spellings make??!! But as Manybooks wrote, there really were reasons for these spellings, which the authors don't touch on:

Though perhaps more playful than practical, the concept will help new readers and new English language learners conquer some of the more peculiar aspects of our language. (Picture book. 7-12)It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. Still as you march along, it becomes more and more interesting, and kinda funny. Me and my guys - we were giggling by the time we were done with the book. And, I think this would be a good one to revisit from time to time. It will certainly give kids a hand-up when they run across these challenging words in reading or trivia games. I’ve long thought that the poor correlation of the sound of English words to their spelling needed to be highlighted. This humorous book does a great job of lampooning word-initial sounds versus word-initial letters. It should be a required textbook for all ESL classes!”

Some examples are great, but I feel like the book misrepresents English. English will absorb some words from other languages, like most English speakers will understand some French words, eg beaucoup, oui, quiche, and even the acronym of RSVP. The book also uses quite a few Spanish words as examples, which I think are great, but often ‘j’ is more like ’y’, why wasn’t that discussed? P Is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever - by Chris Carpenter and Maria Beddia was almost purpose built for me. Long before George Carlin asked about how the “w” in one got tangled into the otherwise “w” less two, or for that matter why it takes so many times to get to, too, two right? I was not getting the hang of spelling. “I: be fore "e" except after "c" is arbitrary enough if you are going to pretend away words like Chief, Believe and Field and there are others. I also have a clear memory of in class spelling bee when a friend of mine nailed Pneumonia while I was fortunately cautious enough to not call Bull, even as I was thinking it. (David got it right by realizing teacher was reading from a dictionary and was still in the letter “P” )The book spotlights words that have silent letters, or weird grammar rules, and invites you to ponder dangerous word traps and oddities. And you might learn something new along the way...While other lessons teach really important principles that, honestly, could change your life and maybe even help you find love." — Funny or Die With The Worst Alphabet Book Ever we get a comedic twist on the entire shelf of alphabet books. Ain’t nobody here but us words that fail to behave. Phonic teachers, eat your heart out. Sorry, phonetically that’s: eat your hart out. This title caught my eye as I am teaching the alphabet to my grandson and will soon be doing so for my granddaughter as well. This book is hilarious!! What a great way to make kids feel good about learning! It shows you that language is hard and encourages you to laugh about the hard stuff and not feel bad that it’s hard. Teaching kids with humor – who’d a thunk it works?! Buy one for every child and adult on your list. You will officially be the coolest gift giver ever.” Overall, though, I think this book will be enjoyed by those who love silliness, learning about words, and combining the two into one activity (so most dads should enjoy this one :p). 4 solid stars for this book.