The Dangerous Alphabet

For my young niece's (she is four now, and proud of it) birthday, I decided that what she truly needed in her life was an Alphabet Book. The child has been pestering her mother to learn how to read for nearly two years now, and so I believed it to be my solemn duty to provide her with a Book from Which To Learn. I turned to author Neil Gaiman for aid in this matter, and upon her birthday delivered to her the Dangerous Alphabet. I am a novice uncle. I do not know what little children enjoy; were it nephews I would buy them Ninja Turtles, but I am confused and frightened by My Little Pony. Literature is the ground that I retreat to, and I am lucky that my niece is a child of learning who enjoys reading. She loves The Dangerous Alphabet. It is one of her Favourite Books, which means that soon enough she will not have to know how to read it, because she will have Memorized the thing from the repetition of her parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents reading and re-reading the book to her. If this is not the kind of book that you want your child to read (I can't imagine why, do you not like children? Do you not believe in Whimsy?) then I would recommend that you get it anyway. You might not want your child reading it, but your child certainly will want to read it. For those of you who enjoy such things, and would like a book that you can enjoy along with your child, then I heartily recommend this most Dangerous of Alphabets to you.

I bought this book for my wife and I to read to our four year old. She Loves it as much as we do. It is delightfully twisted for adults and just querky enough for kids not to be creeped out by it.

Reviewed by Nicholas Lopez (age 6) and Leslie Granier for Reader Views (7/08) Two children and their pet gazelle go on an adventure in hopes of finding a treasure. (I would not have known this without reading the book jacket.) Each letter of the alphabet has an important part in telling the story of the dangers the children encounter. A lot of pictures of words that start with the featured letter are cleverly worked into the illustrations, although children may not be familiar with some of these objects. Nicholas thought, "This is a scary book with lots of monsters and ugly birds. I'm not gonna look for treasures if I see those birds. The writer doesn't know the right way the letters go in the alphabet. He did W before V. That's silly!" "The Dangerous Alphabet" by Neil Gaiman will appeal to boys around seven or eight-years-old. They can use their imaginations to experience the journey along with the characters. Some of the illustrations are a little menacing so younger kids may be afraid.

this alphabet book was almost reminiscent of that tim burton book for kids in that it picks up on a darker mood, but in my opinion it was done much better than tim burton's. it was about these two kids who go on an adventure in some sort of sewer and come across these monsters who want to do bad things to the kids, but they escape by the end. the book rhymes and there's one line per page, which is accompanied by a great illustration depicting the rhyme. the illustrations match the overall mood of the book, and an example can be seen on the cover. i don't know if it's for young children, though i'd try anyways as everything is so white washed nowadays and anything not max and ruby sets your heart racing. it was well done though.

Oh this is so good. Its written the way that nightmares are supposed to be recorded. I mean-its an alphabet book for someone who is well aware of how the alphabet works. Its reminiscent of 'The Gashlycrumb Tinies' but this is creative and new in is own right. And none of the characters die. You could almost expect to see this organized as poetry -although the illustrations really bring the language to life. very compatible-Gaiman and Grimly. My favorite page is 'B is for Boat, pushing off in the dark'(the barbed wire and the vulture and the sense that these awful things are preferable to drifting into the darkness). You kind of get lost in the story...Made aware that the author is no longer Neil Gaiman but a tree monster with sprawling roots and draped in a chains ('I am the author who scratches these rhymes') This is taunting and relentless-unlike many "scary" books for children these days; this one does not bring comfort in the end...maybe indifference...definetely not comfort. This is a little grim. But it is so fun.