When it comes to reading, "The Alphabet Song" can only take you so far. The twenty-six letters of the alphabet make a variety of sounds, depending on which words they comprise, often leading to confusion for beginning readers. Now there's a phonics tool to ease the introduction to reading: A Colorful Journey Through the Land of Talking Letters. Penned by a lifelong language-lover who was in search of a book to help teach her granddaughter to read, the stories in this illustrated volume star a charming cast of animated letters who incorporate a handful of simple rules to teach their different sounds. From "Ahoy! My name is A!" to "Zelda the Zebra," each fun ditty will make learning to read a snap. School teachers, parents, and anyone else who has ever struggled with teaching their little ones the ins and outs of the English language are guaranteed to find A Colorful Journey Through the Land of Talking Letters an essential tool for launching a lifelong love of reading. An elephant named Edgar, Flora the famous French flamingo, Hanna the hummingbird, an obstinate ostrich named Oscar…these delightful characters and more are at the heart of this charming and educational book of illustrated letters. The twenty-six letters of the English alphabet star in Mary Jo Nyssen's stories, crafted as a teaching tool for the author's granddaughter when she first was learning to read. Now these stories have been collected into a single volume, A Colorful Journey Through the Land of Talking Letters, a fun and easy method by which to help children learn to read and write. For beginning readers, learning the alphabet is just the tip of the iceberg. Many letters of the English language have more than one sound, and this helpful picture book deals with each individually. By incorporating simple rules to teach the variety of sounds possible with each letter, A Colorful Journey Through the Land of Talking Letters offers a creative way for children to learn the alphabet and its letter sounds. Nyssen has devised a basic color code as a guide, each color highlighting a particular sound: long vowels are distinguished from short, first consonant sounds from second, and so forth. Praised by teachers as "a great educational tool to use at home or in the classroom…{that} can be used for teaching alliteration, rhyming, and poetry," A Colorful Journey Through the Land of Talking Letters is applicable for pre-k through elementary-age children.