An Inconvenient Alphabet: Ben Franklin Noah Websters Spelling Revolution by Beth Anderson

An Inconvenient Alphabet: Ben Franklin Noah Websters Spelling Revolution Reviews

• 
  Jon Nakapalau

  Two men try to shape the new language of a new land - nicely written with wonderful pictures!
• 
  Abigail

  Author Beth Anderson and illustrator Elizabeth Baddeley team up in this engaging look at two American thinkers and their attempts to reform American English, in the years leading up to and after the Revolution. Benjamin Franklin's early, unsuccessful efforts to create a new alphabet and Noah Webster's book on American grammar are both discussed. When the two eventually met in Philadelphia, in 1786, they discovered that they were kindred spirits, and worked together to change American orthography for the better. The public being unwilling to follow along with a change of alphabet, Webster began experimenting with a newer, simpler method of spelling English words. He also began work on his famous dictionary, first published in 1806.
  
  For any American child who has encountered British English, and wondered about some of the differences between it and its American counterpart - honour vs. honor, theatre vs. theater, etc. - An Inconvenient Alphabet: Ben Franklin & Noah Webster's Spelling Revolution will be a most informative little book. More generally, the book explores a fascinating theme - the idea of languages and writing systems changing over time, whether through gradual processes, or immediate intervention. The author and illustrator's notes, quotation sources and bibliography at the rear give more details, and provide young students with an opportunity to follow up with more research. I found Anderson's narrative here engaging, and Baddeley's accompanying artwork, done in a mix of traditional and digital media, appealing. I particularly liked the inclusion of the alphabet, in various playful ways, in the illustrations here. Recommended to young word lovers, and to picture-book readers looking for stories explaining some of the differences between American and British English.
• 
  Ashley Adams

  Benjamin Franklin and Noah Webster were two men with no patience for words being spelled every which way. This entertaining picture book breaks down their attempts to create a standardized form of American English that spells words how they sound. Full of fun trivia!
• 
  Jessie Oliveros

  This book offers a new and entertaining look at the alphabet. Throughout the story, Anderson places words as they exist now alongside their alternative (more convenient) spelling such as "chair" and "chare." This play on words adds to the already interesting narrative of Noah Webster and Ben Franklin's attempts to reform the alphabet. I like the physical rendering of the alphabet, giving the letters a substantive form which characters carry and rearrange and talk about, making this concept easier for children to understand. I think the biggest take away for kids, though, is that throughout Noah Webster's attempts (as he carried on the work after Franklin passed away), he never gave up. He'd build on what he learned from his mistakes and try something new. Illustrations perfectly suit the story. Kids, teachers, librarians, and parents will all love this book.
• 
  Elizabeth

  This was thoroughly interesting and delightful. Who knew that Benjamin Franklin tried to revise spelling?
• 
  Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow

  This historical tale and notes make this a fascinating read. As a word nerd and history buff, I enjoyed reading through old spellings and new spellings in the illustrations. I also like that Noah Webster and Benjamin Franklin tried more than once to fix our crazy alphabet. This lesson of not giving up is very valuable for children. Although this could be read aloud, I feel like this book would be better enjoyed quietly and independently by children in middle to upper elementary grades--especially ones learning how to spell with our very inconvenient alphabet!
• 
  Michelle Cusolito

  A fascinating look at the work of Ben Franklin and Noah Webster who tried to make English easier to read and write. It seems like a reasonable idea, but the men learned that simple ideas are not always easy to implement. I especially appreciate the five pages of comprehensive back matter that provides additional information and documents the author’s and illustrator’s processes. Includes and extensive list of primary sources referenced during research. As a former teacher, I see this as an excellent book for 3rd grade social studies/ history classes.
  
  NOTE: I read and ARC of this book.
• 
  Joan

  I have to say I was rather scratching my head wondering how to make use of this book. I suppose it might be a nice book to hand a kid who just can’t get our strange spelling memorized. The author mentioned spell check in her note and pointed out you still had to know which variation went with which word: right/write/rite/wright as an example from the note. I would have thought a quick mention of Esperanto would have been logical and a guide for future research. After all, the premise of Esperanto is the same as Franklin’s and Webster’s: one spelling, one pronunciation. It is just taken a step further: one language for the world. Still, much of the book is about their failure. I suppose that is good too. Let the youth learn even well known important people make mistakes or have failures. I don’t think it is quite clear enough what changes they did make, other than dropping “our” for “or”. Colour became color, along with a few other successful changes. These failures did lead to the Webster’s dictionary (not called Webster’s originally) which is still around and quite successful. I found the illustrator’s comments about the animals fun and a nod to being careful to let readers know exactly what is fact and fiction in this book. This would not be a necessary purchase but it is one to help round out a collection
• 
  Annette

  Review by James, age 10, 7/6/19
  
  This is a non-fiction book about attempts to change the alphabet so that everyone could understand each other. The main characters and Noah Webster and Benjamin Franklin, two people who had the same goal. That goal is that everyone can understand each other, understand what is written, and know how to spell each word.
  For instance, at the time there was no agreed spelling for anything. For instance "wife" vs. "yf." Several attempts were tried including adding more letters to the alphabet and removing unnecessary letters. For instance "eight" should be spelled "ate."
  Mom: Why did these attempts fail?
  James: The public was uninterested. Old books would be worthless. Everyone would have to learn a whole 'nother language.
  Eventually after Ben Franklin's death, Noah Webster launched the first American dictionary, with 37,000 words. 22 years later it had 70,000 words.
  
  Mom: Do you wish that Franklin and Webster had succeeded? Which of their ideas do you like best?
  James: I don't know.. Today it seems so unnatural for any of their ideas to have succeeded, because
  we don't spell like Chick-Fil-A cows.
  Do you think Webster was oversimplifying?
  James: Yes, because just spelling "the way it sounds" doesn't necessarily fix it. It might make it worse. That was their problem in the first place, because nobody knew how to spell it and spelled it anyway. Was it "ship" or "shippe?"
• 
  Elizabeth

  This is a really interesting kids' book on the relationship between Noah Webster and Ben Franklin. I love etymology, so this was a great read on the relationship between the early days of America and our spelling and alphabet.
  
  Highly recommend.
• 
  Christina

  This evening I read An Inconvenient Alphabet with my six year old son. What a fantastic selection! I’m glad I happened to notice it in the nonfiction section of our library. I’m going to investigate what else Elizabeth Baddeley has illustrated because I’ve not read a picture book whose illustrations I’ve enjoyed this much in a long time. And the author had a way of explaining the concepts which held the attention of my son throughout. He grabbed the book out of my hand on the last page and ran with it to his bed!! The best compliment.
• 
  Lynn

  Great introduction to Noah Webster’s work and his relationship with Ben Franklin. Young historians would enjoy learning about their connection and their work with our English language. Also good lesson in trying new things, being creative, and the failures that often comes with experiments.
• 
  Kyra Nay

  Ben Franklin believed there had to be a better way to spell English words, so he developed his own 26 letter alphabet, removing the letters c, j, q, w, x, and y and adding 6 new letters to represent the following sounds: aw, uh, edh, ing, ish, eth. Noah Webster, educator and writer, was also frustrated by English’s maddening spelling inconsistencies. When he met Franklin, the two hit it off, inspired by each other’s ideas. At first, they tried to revive Franklin’s original plan – design a new alphabet for the (approximately) 44 sounds in English. When that was again rejected, they turned to Plan B: drop silent letters, extra letters, and use one vowel for short sounds. That didn’t work either. After Franklin died, Webster tried again, focusing on dropping silent letters, like the u in honour or colour. He had partial success with this idea, especially with newspapers. Then, in 1806, he published the first American dictionary, with 37,000 words. While Webster returned to conventional spellings for most words, some of his changes have endured – his dictionary has sold more than 100 million copies in the last two centuries. Webster is why Americans spell favor, not favour, theater, not theatre, and defense, not defence.
  
  My undergraduate degree is in linguistics, so I was delighted by this book. It’s fascinating history, in part because Webster and Franklin only managed a few changes – nowhere near the wide sweeping changes they had envisioned. Spelling reforms are difficult to achieve – for a more recent example, check out Germany’s 1996 Orthography Reform (much narrower in scope, it was still delayed in court, bitterly debated, and slowly adopted, with compromises). I think kids would identify with Franklin and Weber’s frustrations. Spelling is hard and they spend a lot of time in school trying to master it.
  
  Colorful illustrations with giant letters and words (reminiscent of the numbers in Nothing Stopped Sophie) add humor and visual interest. Speech bubbles in crowd scenes effectively show different responses and objections to the proposed reforms, without slowing down the text. For example, in one spread, a printer says, “I’d need new print blocks” while another complains, “Too difficult” while another person points out “Old books would be useless.”
  
  Backmatter includes notes from the author and illustrator, research notes, quotation sources, and a bibliography (split into primary and secondary sources).
• 
  Memory Toast

  What rollicking fun!
  
  Recommend for anyone who has ever wished English would be more consistent, who likes colorful illustrations and characters, and for those who think they know plenty about the period following the American revolution, but still would be pleasantly surprised to learn something knew.
• 
  Donna Snyder

  The American language has come a long from England. Franklin and Webster tried to create consistency, efficiency, and commonality in sounds matching letters. The 26 letter alphabet did not represent the 44 sounds in English. Franklin wanted to chuck six confusing letters (c, q, j, w, x, and y), and create six new characters that represented six distinct sounds. After the war, no one was excited about changing one’s comfortable language. Franklin’s efforts flopped.
  
  Webster step up to the challenged. He conferred with Franklin and decided to rid the language of unnecessary letters. He was also met with resistance. Then he struck upon the idea of “A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language” printed in 1806. It was the book to go to for “correct” spelling of words. Musick became music; honour became honor. There were still a lot of inconsistencies, where letters had more than one sound, and where silent letters remained. In the end, as the dictionary became widely used, words were spelled consistently.
• 
  Susan

  As a word nerd and a history buff, this is the perfect book for me! I had no idea about Ben Franklin's work with Noah Webster, but I found this little-known part of history to be fascinating. Author Beth Anderson does a stellar job of making history feel fun and accessible, drawing parallels between the American revolution and the changes in language that made American English distinct from British English (you've probably noticed differences like color vs. colour or theater vs. theatre). I also enjoyed Elizabeth Baddley's illustrations, particularly the pets that she weaves throughout to keep kids engaged.
• 
  Kate Narita

  Absolutely love this book! Not only does it tie in well with American Revolution units, it's a great example of growth mindset in action. Noah Webster didn't let various setbacks dissuade him from persuing his dreams, he persisted and created a dictionary to help streamline the spelling of English words. In the age of technology and quick, easy answers, we often want to be able to solve a problem right away. But this book is an excellent reminder that "energy and persistence" are needed to "conquer all things."
• 
  Aidan

  A most compelling, non-fiction page-turner! Full of delightful illustrated examples that at first made my daughter and I think, “How did America miss out on this language reform opportunity?!” and then come to appreciate the resistance and desire to hold onto the history of our diverse, COLOURFUL and pliable language. Should be in every classroom; contains great notes at the back for more information.
• 
  Tina Cho

  Beth Anderson’s An Inconvenient Alphabet: Ben Franklin & Noah Webster’s Spelling Revolution is a fun, informative nonfiction picture book that shows how the two greats worked together to combat irregular spellings during their day. It also tells the story behind Webster’s dictionary. Anderson did a wonderful job explaining the language problem so children will understand. Baddeley’s colorful illustrations bring humor into history. Extensive back matter and bibliography are included.
• 
  Jeanette Bradley

  Ever wonder why we spell laugh, not laf? So did Ben Franklin & Noah Webster. This enjoyable double biography tells the story of Webster & Franklin’s attempts to reform and standardize American English spelling. Baddeley’s illustrations incorporate funny historical spellings like “Ineyon” into the backgrounds. A great book for biography fans, lovers of colonial history, and anyone who has ever struggled to memorize all of the wacky irregular spellings of English words.
• 
  Viviane Elbee

  This is the interesting story behind the dictionary... though before Noah Webster decides to write a dictionary, he and Ben Franklin work together to try and change the alphabet and the way American English words are spelled.
  This book is best for older children who already know their alphabets and how to spell words, so they can "see" the funny spellings that Noah Webster and Ben Franklin were suggesting.
  The kids enjoyed this book.
  
• 
  Hannah Holt

  A truly engaging text about the development of American English. I had wondered why some British and American spellings were different. I'd also heard from foreign friends about their frustrations with learning English. This wonderful story covers it all. I expected this book to be educating, but I was also impressed with the tight pacing, character development, and humor. My children and I enjoyed this very much!
• 
  Joanna

  American history? Linguistics? Amazing illustrations? This book rang ALL my bells. I had no idea that Ben Franklin and Noah Webster tried to make our alphabet and spelling make sense (it’s really too bad that their ideas didn’t catch on). The story alone would’ve had me falling head over heels but the illustrations are phenomenal. They’re fun and helpful in understanding, while also channeling that particular ~American Revolution vibe~. I want to own this book desperately.
• 
  Melissa Stoller

  Anyone who loves the English language must read this book! The author and illustrator of this debut picture book create a suspenseful story about Benjamin Franklin and Noah Webster, the alphabet, and spelling. The illustrator also includes two adorable pet sidekicks...a dog and a cat. The back matter enriches this fascinating story!
• 
  Sarah Reul

  Super neat non-fiction book about the beginnings of spelling standardization in the US. I read it out loud to my 4 year old, but I think it was a better fit for my 8 year old, since she’s already familiar with the concept of proper spelling. I think it work even up through middle school, especially if kids are doing a unit on US history or learning about Ben Franklin.
  
  
• 
  Sylvia

  If Ben Franklin and Noah Webster had their way, we would be talking about their movement to reeform spelling in American Inglish. Instead, we are left with the fascinating story of how they tried to reform spelling by creating a new alphabet and simplified spelling. A great picture book for word nerds, history buffs, and curious kids.