Customer Reviews

G Is for One Gzonk!: An Alpha-number-bet Book

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

G Is For One Gzonk!, written and illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi, is a delightful book of fantasy directed to those who may think they are getting another alphabet book.

It IS an alphabet book. That is, is DOES contain references, however vague, to all 26 letters in the English language. It just doesn't beat you over the head with "B is for a blue bouncing ball on the beach that is bound to blow to Boston."

This book is much, much more than that.

It engages the creative mind. The creatures ("creachlings") are bizarre and riveting enough to give the reader the opportunity to discuss and compare with other creachlings. They are complicated, and in a neat style twist, you may see some of them more than once throughout the book. The narrator just happens to have a Harry Potter look, but only because Harry Potter was designed to look "bookish."

DiTerlizzi works letters and numbers into the text, and makes them entertaining. You will spend more time on each page than you would with a Dr. Seuss book, but Dr. Seuss is designed to have the reader (or listener) memorize the text ("One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish..." and I haven't read this one in years). G Is For One Gzonk! is not for memorizing. It can, however, be used to help with numbers and letters ("Now what is the next letter?").

The illustrations really are nicely done. Tony DiTerlizzi clearly is talented!

This book is a great gift for readers (and those who are read to) from ages 4-8.

My 7-year-old daughter and I discovered this book over the weekend, and it's become a new favorite for us both. We've read it over and over, and that is something that rarely happens these days. We both laughed until our sides ached. Very cleverly written and illustrated. Very Seussian. Excellent book!

Next to Z is for Zamboni: A Hockey Alphabet. This is my second favorite alphabet book to share with children. DiTerlizzi wrote this book between the writing of the original Spiderwick Chronicles and the Beyond Spiderwick Trilogy. It is funny, fun and a wonderful book. It is large even for a picture book, but that just give DiTerlizzi even more room to illustrate and expound. The creatures he creates are like a cross between Dr. Seuss and Star Trek. They are done in a charming style and the bright vibrant colors of the book will draw children back to it again and again. Each letter has between 2 and three pages: a main drawing of a creature, a drawing of a young Tony and side comments that look like they have been hand written in on the pages. It is a wonderful book!

This one of the funnest, funniest kid's books I've ever read. If you happen to know a kid who loves nonsense or is frustrated by the way so many kid's books talk down to them, they will almost certainly love this.

We first borrowed this book from our local library. It was an instant hit with its zany, but not too scary creatures and fun, Seussian-like rhymes and made-up words. My daughter cried when it couldn't be renewed anymore, so we had to buy it. It remains a reading-time favourite, and as an elementary school teacher, I believe boys would also enjoy this silly charmer.

My five year old (developmentally delayed) son loved this book when we borrowed it from the library. No surprises that he really enjoyed letter "P" with Pink Peepee Weepkins. But it was enough to really get him interested. He would actually sit still for the entire book. Needless to say he learned to recognize letters of the alphabet. As a teacher I also enjoy the word play the author uses in the illustrations to add to the learning. He cried when he found out mommy took it back to the library so I had to buy him a copy, no better place than Amazon!

My 4 yo daughter wanted me to read this book again right after the first time, a good sign that she liked it. She seemed to enjoy the pictures a lot. As far as the text, it is cute and clever but definitely not a book I would consider educational, although it doesn't aim to be that which I knew before I bought it. All in all it is a good children's book to read to a child who reads/has a lot of books. It is not mainstream and promotes creative thoughts.

Got this for my 4 year old and she is completely in love with it. She can look at the pictures and know what the creatures are called and we have only read it about 5 or 6 times. Her daddy also likes to call her the names of the creatures like Neenel-Nonnel, Venemous Vritt and her favorite to call daddy a Krigglebink! Wonderful illustrations too!

Any book that teaches while having fun, is an A+ in my book. Fabulous illustrations and very funny! A hit!

We love all of Tony DiTerlizzi's books. He does fantastic illustrations and has a great sense of humor.