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by: Jeanne Steig
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.54
EAN: 9780062059024
ISBN: 0062059025
Label: Di Capua
Manufacturer: Di Capua
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 48
Publication Date: 1994-11
Publisher: Di Capua
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Sales Rank: 1789007
Studio: Di Capua
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Presents an alliterative humorous verse for each letter of the alphabet, including 'The Enigmatic Egg,' 'Mishmash,' and 'Worrywart.'.
Amazon.com Review:
If Roald Dahl and Lewis Carroll were to put their heads together to write an alphabet book in verse, Alpha Beta Chowder is what they might have come up with. This, however, is the wily work of the devious Jeanne Steig. With her rollicking rhymes, alluring alliteration, and weird words--some of them of decidedly uncertain origin--Steig leads the reader through a controlled delirium, complete with a hint of menace and a little lighthearted bloodshed.
Meet Gruesome Gilbert, who smells like old galoshes and whose teeth are green, gooey, and gorgeously mildewy. And here's Xavier Max, who views the Great Sphinx; Tactless Toby, who teases Tina with tadpoles in her tapioca; and Penelope, who plummets from her piano stool, pretending to be dead so she won't have to practice her scales.
William Steig's hilarious illustrations provide a perfect accompaniment to the verses--in fact, his pictures sometimes communicate even more than the words. Children will delight in seeing Vera's feet under her bed while her parents are still wondering if she vaporized, or if a vampire's venom downed her. Parents and children be warned: if you're looking for tame and innocuous, turn right around and go home. Alpha Beta Chowder is going to tangle your tongue and wobble your world. (Ages 9 to 12)
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - A Classic of the Genre
This is the book I read, over and over, at the demand of my language-infatuated seven-year-old. He may not have understood half the words, but he delighted in their sounds. When he tired of the book I put it on my bedside bookstand, and I still pull it out when I'm in the mood for some inspired, sophisticated nonsense. The best ABC book ever.
Rating: - Deliciously perverse
Although I bought my eight-year-old girl the book for Christmas, it's headed to my office. It is the funniest book I've read in a long time; my usual reading (teaching) matter is the classics. The Steigs' book is a welcome break, a breath of fresh air after all that high-mindedness and tragedy! Carrotina and her awful cadenza are hilarious, but Naomi, "nervy as a newt" with her "nitwit" parents, is all too recognizable. I appreciate the tiny moral tales and the deflating of pompous academics, ... Read More
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