Gran Leon Books - The Dangerous Alphabet

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Manufacturer: HarperCollins

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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9780060783334
ISBN: 0060783338
Label: HarperCollins
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 32
Publication Date: 2008-05-01
Publisher: HarperCollins
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Release Date: 2008-04-29
Studio: HarperCollins

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Editorial Reviews:

A is for Always, that's where we embark . . .

Two children, treasure map in hand, and their pet gazelle sneak past their father, out of their house, and into a world beneath the city, where monsters and pirates roam.

Will they find the treasure? Will they make it out alive?

The Dangerous Alphabet is a tale of adventure, piracy, danger, and heroism told in twenty-six alphabetical lines—although even the alphabet is not to be relied upon here. A delightfully dangerous journey from national bestselling author Neil Gaiman and the monstrously talented Gris Grimly, The Dangerous Alphabet is sure to captivate and chill young readers.

Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating:

Summary: A little more advanced
Comment: Although I think that my granddaughter will enjoy this later it is more advanced than I originally thought. Still it is a novel approach.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Was he drunk when he wrote this?
Comment: I think that Neil Gaiman wrote this book late one night on the back of a cocktail napkin while inebriated. Are you kidding me? What publisher thought this was a good idea?! He turned out an alphabet book with a huge mistake in it, V comes after W. Then he passes off his lack of attention to detail as a fun game for the kids. Many of the rhymes that go with the letters don't even make sense! For example "C is the way that we find and we look." What the **** is that? After a brief moment of perplexity I realized that he is saying "See" not making an example of a word that actually starts with a C. The illustrations are really fun, and true, they may be for a slightly older crowd that what usually appeals to alphabet books. If you want a great alphabet book, and this one is the best, get Animalia by Graeme Base. Another master of his trade is Jim Aylesworth (Old Black Fly) - talk about a good rhyme, proper use of the alphabet, and great illustrations.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Cute but short
Comment: In this book, Neil Gaiman writes roughly six words for each letter of the alphabet and Grimly draws pictures of a kid in a sewer. The text isn't particularly special, but when the entire book would fit on a greeting card or the back cover of a real book, i suppose there's not much you can do to wow people. Gaiman's a good writer but even he would need two paragraphs to say anything interesting. The pictures are really cute and are the only reason to read (look at?) this book. It's a cute book, but awfully expensive for what you get

Customer Rating:

Summary: not quite there
Comment: It is hard for me to give anything by Gaiman less than 4 or 5 stars, but this one just doesn't cut it. Maybe if it had been intended for 8 and above rather than the suggested 4 to 8 age range - but as done, it is way too macabre for the audience.

The couplets forming the text of the book are not all as sharp as I would expect from the talented writer - and if you just read them straight through, they don't form the complete picture as a poem that they should. The story is jagged and incomplete.

The drawings by Gris Grimly are superior, but also way off base for younger children. Each page is filled with gruesome details, some are fine and even fun to spy - such as a worm coming out of an apple or bones revealed by an x-ray machine. But others include blood coming from the wrists of a child manacled to a wall, children in stew pots and chained by their necks.

While I think older children - those able to more clearly distinguish fantasy from reality - and adults can enjoy this book, I would not give it to a child under 8 or 9. This alphabet is just a tad too dangerous for the wee ones.

Customer Rating:

Summary: super cool-maybe a little...edgy for young ones.
Comment: like i said above, super cool, awesome art, maybe a little-edgy(i.e. scary)for young ones. my five year old loved it, but i think she was a little scared of the dark that night. still, very good.

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