G Is for One Gzonk! (Limited Edition): An Alpha-number-bet Book [Hardcover]

Tony DiTerlizzi (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Welcome to my silly dilly

take on ABC

It's lots of fun and really odd,

as you will quickly see

For they're no "leaping lizards" here

No "bears that bounce a ball"

In fact, these zany critters have

never been seen at all!

So turn the page and cast a gaze

on this menagerie,

but don't forget the beasts within

were all made up by me!

-- Tiny DiTerlooney

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3–This clever and sophisticated tribute to two icons of nonsensical rhyme, Dr. Seuss and Edward Lear, will surprise and amuse. From the Angry Ack who eats dirty clothes to the Zanderiffic Zibble Zook, who loves to read dictionaries, these fantastic creatures defy expectations. The Bloobytack, who collects objects on his sticky back, assures, I know what you're thinking, but that's not a BOOT, it's a SHOE so no B's here. In fact, none of the illustrations seem to have anything to do with their respective letters. Each spread features a letter, a corresponding Seuss-like creachling and its rhyme, and a comical cartoon portrait of the author. Several pages into the story, the Teedle-Weenie Woo, potatolike, brightly colored digits, join the fun. They insist on counting, be it 7 stars, 90 laps, or, in the case of the Uggle-Unk, 3 stripes in his underwear./Thank goodness, none are brown. Amid the laughs, children are ingeniously exposed to colors, numbers, and letters. The pen-and-ink illustrations of the creachlings are colored digitally, each in a different hue, in imitation of picture books of the '40s and '50s. The author and the Woos are painted in gouache with prismacolor-pencil details. The former–skinny and boyish with jeans, yellow T-shirt, sneakers, round glasses, and unruly red hair–imitates and interacts with his creations on every page, clearly having just as much fun as his readers. Handsomely designed, this wacky wonder will wow Woos of all ages.–Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Tony DiTerlizzi is the author of The Search for WondLa. He is also the co-creator and illustrator of the bestselling Spiderwick Chronicles, the author and illustrator of Jimmy Zangwow’s Out-of-this-World MoonPie Adventure, as well as the Zena Sutherland Award winning Ted. His brilliantly cinematic version of Mary Howitt’s classic The Spider and The Fly earned Tony his second Zena Sutherland Award, and recieved a Caldecott Honor. Tony’s art has also graced the covers of such well-known fantasy writers as Peter S. Beagle, J. R. R. Tolkien, Anne McCaffrey, and Greg Bear. He has also made significant contributions to Dungeons and Dragons and Wizards of the Coast’s Magic; The Gathering. His first chapter book, Kenny & the Dragon debuted as a New York Times bestseller. He lives with his wife Angela and their daughter in Western Massachusetts and Jupiter, FL. Visit Tony on the web at www.diterlizzi.com. 

Product Details

• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers; Limited edition (September 12, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141692471X
• ISBN-13: 978-1416924715
• Product Dimensions: 12.8 x 9.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,768,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

THE FANTASTIC WORLDS OF TONY DITERLIZZI

Dragons, space monsters, goblins and insects: the characters that inhabit storyteller Tony DiTerlizzi's world haven't changed since he was a kid growing up in South Florida.

Born in Los Angeles, California in 1969, DiTerlizzi is the oldest of three siblings raised in an artistically rich household. He started drawing at a very young age including a crayon mural of Winnie-the-Pooh on his freshly painted bedroom walls.

One of his first hand-made books was on his favorite subject; dinosaurs, and was done for a Boy Scout merit badge. Fascinated by nature's endless designs, Tony made another book, this time on insects, carefully drawn from his own collection.

In 1981, after seeing Jim Henson's "The Dark Crystal" and playing Dungeons & Dragons, the 12 year-old Tony spent the summer writing and illustrating an entire field guide on fantastic creatures. He would return to this premise many years later as the genesis for "The Spiderwick Chronicles".

By the time he graduated high school, DiTerlizzi had dreams of becoming a children's book creator. He attended several art schools including, Florida School of the Arts and the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, receiving his degree in graphic design in 1992.

After graduating, the 23 year-old DiTerlizzi began working freelance for TSR, publisher of Dungeons & Dragons - the game that had inspired him so much as a child. He illustrated many fantastical images of warriors, wizards and monsters over the next 6 years, and also contributed to the collectible card game Magic the Gathering.

A move to New York City in 1996 brought Tony to the center of the publishing world. At last, his dream of writing and illustrating outstanding imaginative books for children could be realized. And he did it at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

In 2000, his first picture book, "Jimmy Zangwow's Out-of-this-World Moon Pie Adventure" debuted. Inspired by Windsor McKay's "Little Nemo in Slumberland" and Norman Rockwell, the story of a young space adventurer in search of his favorite snack garnered positive reviews. Kirkus compared Tony's work to that of David Wiesner and William Joyce. More importantly, children loved the book.

The next year, he followed up with "Ted", the story of a workaholic single parent trying to find time for his son and his mischievous imaginary friend. Once again, the book was well received, and it won several state awards including the University of Chicago's Zena Sutherland Book Award.

His third picture book, "The Spider and The Fly", was based on Mary Howitt's famous 1829 poem. Here, DiTerlizzi exhibited his love of insects and arachnids as he rendered Chaz Addams-esque paintings of the intrepid spider and the guileless fly. The result was a critically acclaimed, New York Times bestseller. It won a Caldecott Honor, an award for high artistic achievement in children's publishing, in 2003. Tony's career as a creator of children's books was on its way.

During a magazine interview on his work for Dungeons & Dragons, DiTerlizzi met up-and-coming writer Holly Black. A fellow fantasy and folklore lover, the two became fast friends and Tony showed her sketches he was working on for a field guide to fantastic creatures. Black began helping him, and the two created the chapter book series "The Spiderwick Chronicles".

Spiderwick followed the adventures of three New England children who unearth an old John James Audubon-styled field guide to fairies, trolls and goblins. No sooner do they find the tome, they then discover that all of its subjects are real and want the guide. "The Spiderwick Chronicles" were loved by children and adults alike, and was published in over 30 countries, selling over 7 million copies in the US alone.

Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies released a live action adaptation of "The Spiderwick Chronicles" in 2008 starring Freddie Highmore, Mary Louise-Parker and Nick Nolte. The film was well received by critics and the public, remaining in the top 3 at the box office for a number of weeks.

In 2006, Tony took a break from Spiderwick, returning to the picture book format with his nonsense alphabet book, "G is For One Gzonk!" Next, he and Holly continued the Spiderwick saga in the new series, "Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles". The latest Spiderwick story arc followed a new set of kids dealing with giants, mermaids and nixies in the hot, humid tropics of South Florida.

DiTerlizzi's passion for crafting more chapter books for young imaginations continued with 2008's "Kenny and The Dragon". Inspired by "The Reluctant Dragon", it tells the story of a young, bookish rabbit who becomes friends with a happy-go-lucky drake. As the two become best friends, the king orders the town dragon-slayer to execute the beast - and it is up to the rabbit, Kenny, to stop him. The book became a New York Times bestseller the week of its release and was nominated for several state book awards.

He followed Kenny by teaming up with his wife, Angela, on a silly series of young picture books, "Adventure of Meno". Meno, the space elf, and his best friend (a jellyfish named Yamagoo) do not speak in correct grammar and go on ridiculous adventures where they are visited by a variety of guests such as David Hasselhoff and Eddie Vedder.

"Ang and I wanted to create a very young book that made you laugh." Tony explained. "There are plenty of soft and cute books for toddlers, but we wanted one that caused laughter with both the parent and the child, forging a love of fun books from the onset."

2010 marks a decade of creating books for children for Tony. "This is what I have always dreamed of doing," he says. "I keep waiting for my mom to wake me up and it has all just been one middle school-aged escapist dream."

DiTerlizzi celebrated his ten-years in children's publishing by returning to aliens and spaceships with his futuristic fairy tale, "The Search for WondLa". The story follows a 12-year old girl, Eva Nine, who is raised underground by a robot. Eva discovers that she is the only human alive on an alien planet and begins searching for others like her.

Tony works with his wife, Angela, and lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with their daughter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dr. Seuss minus the rhymes as told by Harry Potter...., September 24, 2006

By 

R Schmidt (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: G Is for One Gzonk!: An Alpha-number-bet Book (Hardcover)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a delightful book!, October 23, 2006

By 

Artlover "Artlover" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: G Is for One Gzonk!: An Alpha-number-bet Book (Hardcover)

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!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superawesomelicious, May 29, 2011

By 

Steven R. McEvoy "MCWPP" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: G Is for One Gzonk!: An Alpha-number-bet Book (Hardcover)

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!