Whistle Stopper - The Dangerous Alphabet

List Price: $17.99
Our Price: $10.44
Your Save: $ 7.55 ( 42% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: HarperCollins

Average Customer Rating:

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

Related Items
The Graveyard Book Coraline The Absolute Sandman, Vol. 3 InterWorld M Is for Magic

Spotlight customer reviews:

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.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Will appeal to boys around seven or eight-years-old
Comment: 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.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Holds great appeal for all ages
Comment: "The Dangerous Alphabet" is told in twenty-six alphabetical lines which comprise thirteen couplets. The story revolves around two young children, a boy and a girl, and their pet gazelle who on finding a treasure map strike out to find the treasure. Along the journey, they meet all kinds of nasty monsters and evil pirates who stand between them and the loot. When the girl is eventually captured, it's up to our young hero to save her. Will he find her in time, and will they uncover the treasure?

Considering he is writing in couplets that are to appeal to children, Gaiman does remarkably well in being creative and staying away from the "groan" factor. (The physical phenomenon in which a rhyme is so egregious you are forced to groan in disgust. I'd give an example, but I prefer to live without the resulting mail bombs.) But "The Dangerous Alphabet" truly lives and dies on the quality of its artwork. And Gris Grimly does an outstanding job here. Grimly's artwork is wonderfully stylistic and interesting, capturing a highly original look and feel and rendering it beautifully.

Last Word:
"The Dangerous Alphabet" should definitely appeal to young children, particularly children just learning the alphabet. While the story is not surprisingly simple in form, the amazing artwork should appeal to children of all ages.

More Reviews

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.