By Tony B. Anderson
Random House, NZ$24.95 | Reviewed by Laura Fergusson

A BRIEF WARNING: you might not want to read this book in public. Nor for fear of the glances unenlightened strangers might bestow on an adult conspicuously reading an alphabet book – you might get a few but it’s worth it. Not because it will make you snort with laughter loudly and frequently, though it might. But because it is virtually impossible to read this book in your head, and if you try you are missing out on its greatest pleasures.

Anderson’s book, unlike too many traditional alphabet books, takes gleeful delight in the sounds of words. I found myself reading huge chunks of it aloud to myself and whoever was around, revelling not so much in the situations created, although some are very funny, but in the tongue-twisters, and the sheer enjoyment of the wonderful noises English can make.

The book is constructed of 26 stories, one for each letter. So far, so traditional, but Anderson adheres to the rule of alliteration more strictly than most. Each word in each story must begin with the relevant letter: no sneaky of’s or with’s or ‘the’s to be found here. This, combined with an appealing facility for the absurd, creates compulsively speakable sentences such as “Mike’s mice’s mechanical metal monsters mix macaroni” and “Foul fumes float from Frankie’s far-flung forgotten fridge.”

The effect is a delicious combination of Dr Seuss and E. E. Cummings; of nonsensical situations and addictively repeatable sentences. In conjunction with the hyperactive illustrations, evocative of television’s Ren and Stimpy though never quite so grotesque, the book is as turbulent and entertaining a rampage through the alphabet as I have ever encountered. While the refusal to avoid more complex or unfamiliar words may mean it is not ideal for those learning to read, it is perfectly suited to reading aloud, with or without children.