“EXCELLENT RESOURCE FOR PARENTS AND TEACHERS”

"This book has been a great resource in helping my daughters learn their sounds and learn to read. It has also helped my four-year-old's preschool teacher who mentioned that the children were learning the vowels and said the children were getting confused with "to," as they were teaching the short sounds. I mentioned that I had been using this book to work with my six-year-old to help her understand that letters often make more than one sound. The preschool teacher immediately got a copy of her own. Without this book, I'd have to say, helping my girls learn to read would be much more difficult. It's an excellent resource for parents and teachers."

“A WONDERFUL WAY TO LEARN PHONICS!”

"This is a great book to help children understand the many sounds of our alphabet. We have used the book during handwriting, reading, and spelling time in my kindergarten classroom. I love the highlighted letters to help the children understand the sounds. Thank you for writing a fun journey about letters and their sounds. A wonderful way to learn phonics!"

“INVENTIVE ILLUSTRATIONS…EXCELLENT STUDY GUIDE”

"This unique picture book features a talking, multicolored alphabet to teach basic sounds, from Andy and his apples to Zelda the zebra.

English has many quirks, but Nyssen's sunny ABC book keeps things simple by addressing only single letters... With characters such as Andy, April, Alma, Grandpa Goose and George the giraffe, the differences in the oft-changing pronunciation of some letters becomes obvious. For example, through "Yolanda the yellow yak," "Lynn" and her "cymbals" and "Kyle's pig sty," Nyssen clearly explains the letter "y" and its mysterious ability to make three sounds and be both a consonant and a vowel. Beginning in simple, sporadic rhyme, Nyssen opts for an alliterative and more effective free verse for most of the book. The real strength is her novel color scheme for letters that shows, for example, the short "a" in green letters, the long "a" in red and its "third sound" in brown... Motz's inventive illustrations radiate charm and imagination, greatly helping to distinguish Nyssen's book from other early reader alphabets.

An excellent study guide with clever illustrations to assist with the basics."

“FANTASTIC BOOK!”

"This is a brilliantly put together book. Being an English major and parent of two, I have never seen anything like this before. Every book that I have read that helps with the sound of letters comes across as either boring or like it is trying to imprint the information into your child's brain. The approach that this author takes in teaching the young reader, through fun examples of repeating letter sounds, helps the child to understand the concept of what sounds each letter can make without just force-feeding it to them.



Breakdown of the book:

-Fun characters

-Witty use of letter sounds

-Easy-to-understand variations of each letter sound

I'd just like to put on here that I have no idea where we came about getting this book (I'm guessing from my child's teacher). But my daughter pulled it off the shelf for us to read tonight, and I was so impressed with it that I had to jump on here and write something.



I just want to say to the author: Thank you! Fantastic book!"

“EMPHASIZE THE FUN SIDE OF EDUCATION”

"As a seasoned mother and grandmother who desired to train up subsequent generations using a combination of education and fun, Mary Jo Nyssen has created a series of tales for each of the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet, presented here in this small paperback book. Simple rules with witty ditties for examples show the many sounds associated with single letters, using brightly colored and often visually silly illustrations to emphasize the fun side of education. Within the book, each letter of the alphabet is dressed up as a memorable character, about which Nyssen creates a short story scenario. Every letter in the ditty that makes the particular sound she describes is set apart by a specific color: green, red, pink orange, purple, or blue. Having predefined colors to set apart certain letters, and showing the common sound they share, draws the child's attention and emphasizes the phonemic lesson being taught.

For a $12 addition to your school shelf or home library, this is a handy tool for helping children learn to read and memorize some of the basics of the English language. This book also helps early readers to practice some of the skills they have begun to master. Bringing joy into the educational setting is not always the easiest task, but you and your child will giggle repeatedly while learning long sounds, short sounds, third sounds, and other basic language rules presented in A Colorful Journey Through the Land of Talking Letters. This clever addition to your young child's curriculum will enforce concepts, reiterate rules, and increase fun while teaching necessary phonemic skill."

“PURCHASE AND USE MARY JO’S BOOK”

"I am encouraging all of my Warner Pacific College Teacher Education students to purchase and use Mary Jo’s book. She focuses on the numerous sounds that many letters make phonemically, and then uses color to visually reinforce the sound of the letters as they are used in morphemes and words. As a grandfather, I have been working with both my five-year old and three-year old granddaughters on their sounds. The five-year old is already learning the basic concepts developed by Mary Jo Nyssen."