The Disappearing Alphabet [Hardcover]

Richard Wilbur (Author), David Diaz (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1998

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Richard Wilbur turns his sharp eye to the noble alphabet and imagines what life would be like without these twenty-six little--but powerful--letters. Packed with humor and witty subtleties, the verse in this captivating picture book is splendidly matched by Caldecott Medal winner David Diaz's hilariously clever illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If the alphabet started to disappear, as the premise of this inventively witty book sets up, then the world as we know it would, too. Wilbur (Opposites), a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, starts at the beginning and imagines what life would be like without each of the 26 letters: "If [B] were absent, say, from BAT and BALL,/ There'd be no big or little leagues AT ALL." In addition to pondering words without particular letters, Wilbur playfully points out the symbols' other important functions (e.g., in music, "If there were no such thing as C,/ Whole symphonies would be off key"; or in reference to the roman numeral M in mathematics, "If M should vanish, we would lose, my dears,/ MINCE PIE, MARSHMALLOWS, and a thousand years"). Diaz (Smoky Night), in a clever quip, employs cut-outs as his medium; the rainbow-hued silhouettes set against a white background serve to either amplify or clarify the text. For the destruction of the letter Q, for example (as a result of which "Millions of U's would then be unemployed"), Diaz pictures a wrecking ball aimed at a giant Q while the ground is littered with discarded Us. And, in W, for a more obscure reference to the watermelon shape in Cassiopeia, Diaz enlightens readers with a picture of the constellation. With plenty of brain-tickling words to grow on and a plethora of visual puns, watch this one vanish from the family bookshelf. All ages.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-5-Each of these delightful poems, one for each letter of the alphabet, speculates on the disasters that would occur should that letter suddenly disappear. Wilbur is known primarily as a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former Poet Laureate of the United States, although some of his poems have been published in books for children, notably Opposites (1991), More Opposites (1991; o.p.), and Runaway Opposites (1995, all Harcourt). The poems presented here were first printed in The Atlantic Monthly magazine. A series of rhyming couplets of varying lengths, they range from the innocently whimsical to the cleverly sophisticated. Diaz uses computer-generated illustrations to add just the right touches to the verses; the images are lush and playful at the same time. This is not an alphabet book for youngsters just learning to read, although children would enjoy hearing it read aloud. More importantly, it invites older children to play with language as it engages their imagination. A winner that belongs in every library.
Linda Greengrass, Bank Street College Library, New York City
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152014705
• ISBN-13: 978-0152014704
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,182,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent:for its humor, poetic quality, illustrations., December 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Disappearing Alphabet (Hardcover)

I highly recommend this book. The lines are easy to remember, and are very quotable. They provide an introduction to poetry and to the play with language. They introduce vocabulary with humor. The illustrations are quite extraordinary, the print of high quality.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An imaginative ABC book for young and old, September 14, 2004

By 

Kara Reuter (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Disappearing Alphabet (Paperback)

Richard Wilbur's The Disappearing Alphabet imagines what the world would be like if the letters of the alphabet vanished, in verses on subjects ranging from the ordinary to silly to sublime and existential. For instance, without "G," there would be no green and oak trees would be blue and pastures pink; without "N," birds would have wigs instead of wings; as for "O":

What if there were no letter O?

You couldn't COME, you couldn't GO,

You couldn't ROVE, you couldn't ROAM,

And yet you couldn't stay at HOME!

Where would you be, had heaven not sent you

The letter O to orient you?

Each letter is portrayed on a single page, with verses ranging from two to twelve lines. Each verse is beautifully illustrated by David Diaz's exquisite and unexpected designs, such as a lovely banana with a disgusting eel instead of a peel (illustrating the importance of the letter "P"). Diaz's illustrations are stylized in intense, gradient, glowing colors. The illustrations each overlay a pale yellow version of the letter found somewhere in the background of the page. The type is treated with the same care as the illustrations, with the letter to which the verse is addressed set off in a bold, colorful, sans serif font. Younger children will enjoy the nonsense-like poetry and the playfulness of the language, while older children will discover new and unusual vocabulary words and find inspiration by the possibilities of language. The introduction exhorts children to protect the alphabet: "Be careful, then, my friends, and do not let / Anything happen to the alphabet." This book will offer children of all ages an appreciation of letters, words, and language.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for out of the box thinkers!, August 23, 2011

By 

Cynthia M. Hopp (Algonquin, IL) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Disappearing Alphabet (Paperback)

I used this book in my K class and they understood some of it. I would recommend this book for grades 3 and up.