The Alphabet: How Pine Cone and Pepper Pot (with the help of Tiptoes Lightly and Farmer John) learned Tom Nutcracker and June Berry their letters

Summer is almost over and Tom Nutcracker is soon to go to school. But deep in the forest on his father’s farm two gnomes called Pine Cone and Pepper Pot are worried. What if the school does not teach Tom his letters properly? What if the teacher messes the alphabet up? Then Tom might spell Pine Cone as NEPI NOEC, or Pepper Pot as PREPREP TOP. He might even spell the famous Tiptoes Lightly as TOESPIT THIGLLY. That would be a disaster. A huge disaster! So the two gnomes, with the help of Tiptoes Lightly and Farmer John, set out to teach Tom his letters. Tom’s younger sister, June Berry, insists on being taught too, and never will they, or anyone else who reads this tale, forget their ABC’s – or their LMNOP’s or QRST’s either.

Whether your child knows their alphabet or not Pine Cone and Pepper Pot guarantee that they will see the letters and their shapes with new and creative eyes. The Alphabet is filled with stories, songs, pictures, plays and adventures silly and bold.

The Alphabet is a large format, full color book, suitable for children from late kindergarten to grade three - and for teachers or homeschoolers seeking to enrich the art of learning to write.

PS - the humorous use of the word 'learned' instead of 'taught' in the subtitle, while colloquial, is correct. It dates from circa 1300 and extends into our times. I am in the learned company of Shakespeare, Disraeli, Wodehouse et al. in its use. :)

Reg Down grew up in Canada, Namibia, South Africa and Ireland. He trained as a eurythmist, an art of movement and gesture, in England and Germany. The father of three, he has taught eurythmy in Waldorf schools in Australia, Canada and the United States, as well as at Rudolf Steiner College in Sacramento, California. He is the author of Leaving Room for the Angels, a book on eurythmy and artistic pedagogy, Color and Gesture - the Inner Life of Color, and a novel, The Fetching of Spring. He now lives in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada after spending many years in the USA.