I don’t recall how I first heard of this book, but I bought it for myself just for kicks, and it’s a hoot.
This is a children’s book, but only after your kids know the alphabet pretty well, or it will confuse them. The authors find words that don’t sound like they start with the letters they actually start with, like pterodactyl, knight, gnat, etc. There’s even a word that starts with a silent B, which I had no idea existed. It’s for bdellium (a tree resin – I had to Google), which the authors describe thusly: “We doubt anyone knows what bdellium is, but it’s the only word dumb enough to begin with a silent B.”
For the letters that the authors can’t find a word for, they tell you what that letter is not for, such as “I is not for eye.”
Each word has a sentence that uses homophones or other words that contain a silent letter. Sticking with the I example, the sentence is “We asked the pirate if he has two eyes, and he said ‘aye, aye!'” The end of the book contains a glossary that includes pronunciations.
Adults will certainly enjoy this book; I did, at least, but then again it doesn’t take much to amuse me. The full-page illustrations for each letter are entertaining and generally brightly colored. The pterodactyl page, which has the description “Ptolemy the psychic pterodactyl struggles with psoriasis,” has an image of a pterodactyl wearing a turban like a psychic might wear, and there are rash-like spots on his body to indicate psoriasis.
While I can’t say this is a book I’ll re-read, it is one I’m going to hold on to just for kicks.