More amusing for adults than children. The pictures will appeal to some children while the humor will be hit or miss. Not sure what age group this is aimed at but would recommend for ages 6 - 11.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is funny. Those that appreciate the strangeness of the English language will enjoy it. I think it will be lost on the younger kids (and may even confuse them a bit), but definitely fun for older kids. The pictures are fun too.

This book is brilliant. I purchased a copy for my classroom library.

I teach middle school English to children of immigrants and we have a lot of fun with it.

This is such a great book! I love that each page is dedicated to a letter and that there are further details at the end. I think the illustrations also play a huge part in making this book unique and enjoyable! Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

P is for Pterodactyl is a funny kids' book -- lots of words that you wouldn't expect in an alphabet book, which is completely the point! Very funny and fun to read.

P is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever written by by Raj Halder and Chris Carpenter,and illustrated by Maria Beddia. Turning the traditional idea of an alphabet book on its head, this book is perfect for anyone who has ever been stumped by silent letters or confused by absurd homophones. This unique book takes silent letter entries like "K is for Knight" a step further with "The noble knight's knife nicked the knave's knee." Illustrations offer context clues, and alliterative words help readers navigate text like "a bright white gnat is gnawing on my gnocchi" with ease. Everyone from early learners to grown-up grammarians will love this wacky book where "A is for Aisle" but "Y is definitely not for Why."

P is for Pterodactyl is a great picturebook for almost all ages. I think it might be confusing for the youngest readers that are still working on sight words and figuring out the basics, but it might be an entertaining book for family sharing, or in a classroom setting. I can picture an upper elementary, or even higher, class using this book to show how strange our language can be, and get a better grasp on some of those oddities. I have to admit that I found the pronunciation key at the end of the book very helpful, because there were some words that I knew I had been mentally mispronouncing for years, because I had only seen them in books but never spoken. The illustrations are cute and bright, and offer a good amount of context clues to help readers figure things out.

I think P is for Pterodactyl will be a big hit with a particular group of readers, and will be useful to others. I just do not see it having a broad or widespread appeal.

This is such a fun book. It might confuse beginning readers but 3rd graders and above, kids who understand that not everything is spelled like it sounds will enjoy it. As an adult, I think this is good trivia to tuck away and bring out to impress your friends.

This is a *delightful* alphabet book that uses some unusual examples for its letters - but the illustrations are great and it also provides a great glossary in the back for kiddos (and adults) who want more context for the neat words they encounter inside.

Calling itself "The Worst Alphabet Book Ever", P is for Pterodactyl is a smirk, wink, and nudge at rebel words in the English language: words that don't follow the rules. The book uses humor, alliteration, and amusing artwork to get its point across, as with E is for Ewe, which depicts sheep at a wake: "Eileen the ewe was so euphoric with wolves were eaten, she even gave the eulogy" (keep reading the book for more on Eileen); or L is not for Elle, which shows an elevated subway car transporting some elephants across the city of El Paso: "An elephant named Elle rode the el train halfway to El Paso and dined on hearts of palm with her folks". It's not a basic concept book for new learners, but it's sure fun to read it out loud and watch kids laugh and play with language. My 6-year-old cracks up at this one, and it helps when he tries to figure out new words.

P is for Pterodactyl has a starred review from Foreword Reviews.

An alphabet book that pokes fun at words that use letters in unconventional ways for English.

I thought that this book might be a great tool for our ESL teachers, but upon reading it I was disappointed. First of all, the words chosen for each of the letters are not even. They aren’t all letters that make an unusual sound or are silent. (I think the most ridiculous page was the Q page featuring a bunch of words that have the Q making a hard K sound…which is the sound Q makes. I guess they picked Quinoa and Qatar because those don’t have a kwa sound???) I think the biggest problem with this book though is that many of the words chosen are words adopted into the English language from another language. So, yes, the letters in those words make unconventional sounds to English speakers BUT they make the sounds they are supposed to in the original language. I found it culturally insensitive calling words silly and dumb for obeying a different set of phonics rules. Yes, they are different, but that doesn’t mean they are wrong or dumb. In a world that is more and more international, this is not a book I’d recommend for any classroom because it comes off as xenophobic, snobbish, and offensive. (Let’s just tell all the Spanish speakers of the world that they are using Js wrong. Umm, how about let’s not.) The idea for the book was good, but it was poorly executed.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fabulous fun! It is definitely not an alphabet book for the young child, but would be perfect for school age and older. Adults who like words and silliness will enjoy this, too!

The glossary in the back is great - it has a pronunciation guide and definitions of the words. It was helpful to me and I know a lot of kids who read it will want to know a little more about some of the words.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

My grandchildren love alphabet books, and dinosaurs, so I though this would be right up their alley. Well there was only one dinosaur, but this was an incredibly silly book and my grandson loved it. It poked fun at the way the English language does not follow rules, especially all the silent letters in the language. It's written quite sarcastically and would probably be appreciated by older children who struggle with pronunciations and spelling as well as younger children who will just enjoy the illustrations and fun text. The art is fun to look at and I enjoyed seeing a book that has fun with the ridiculousness of the English language. I would not recommend this book to early readers as it would probably frustrate them very much. A great addition to a school library. The publisher, SOURCEBOOKS Jabberwocky, generously provided me with a copy of this book to read. The rating, ideas and opinions are my own.

This is probably the most unique and needed alphabet book in the US. There are many words like ewe, psoriasis, and phlegm that do sound as they are spelled. This book takes a comical look at some every day, and some not so everyday words that start with silent letters. I will admit I had to look up and hear two words online. Is it no wonder I can’t spell?

The pages about silent letters worked very well, but the all the other ones just didn't. I can't imagine a kid picking this out on their own, and I think adults would struggle to read this with their child. Art is nothing special.

I requested this book from NetGalley because I have a three year old who is super into words and grammar, and this looked like a fun and out of the ordinary alphabet book. "P is for Pterodactyl" goes through the alphabet highlighting words where the letters break the rules (lots of unexpected silent letters and such). The art is fun to look at and I enjoyed seeing a book that has fun with the ridiculousness of the English language.

This book would probably be frustrating for kids who are trying to learn to read, but it is great for an early reader who wants to know more about how language works.

Thank you Sourcebooks Jabberwocky for the review eARC of this book! My oldest, who is a strong reader, and with whom I have had many “English is weird” conversations, really enjoyed this book. I think it’s great for older kids who are becoming more familiar with lots of vocabulary. There is a glossary in the back which provides more background on the unusual pronunciations in the book, I do wish more of that information had been incorporated into the pages of the book. Overall this book was a fun look at the English language, and it would be a great conversation starter!

This book is incredibly silly and I loved every page. It's a clever alphabet book that gives the reader a word that has a silent letter either at the beginning, middle, or end. It's written quite sarcastically and it's a good book to gift someone who's tired of getting the same old alphabet book. I can see younger children getting a kick out of some of the pages, especially if it's read in a funny voice. The drawings seem a bit rudimentary and I think it definitely could have benefited from a better illustrator. Besides that, I liked this book.

P Is for Pterodactyl truly is the worst alphabet book ever. ;-)

Each page in this cute little volume displays a letter of the alphabet and highlights ways in which the letter does not seem to follow the rules. Sometimes this means highlighting its use as a silent letter, and other times it means showing how that letter is not actually used where you might expect it to be.

I mostly prefer the pages that deal with silent letters -- they are easier to follow and I loved that the sentences on the page highlight other ways the silent version of the letter is used. Some of the "nope this letter doesn't go where you think it goes" pages are a bit convoluted for my taste and tend to not have as interesting or prolific letter usage in the sentences.


Overall, though, I think this book will be enjoyed by those who love silliness, learning about words, and combining the two into one activity. 4 solid stars for this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Jabberwocky for providing me with a DRC of this book.

What a clever book. Not only is it good for children to get their head around silent letters, it was a brilliant conversation starter at a night out.

So funny and so true! English is a very odd language! I think older kids, teens, and adults will enjoy this playful romp through the alphabet! It would also make a wonderful gag gift for those sticklers of spelling. Love the illustrations, too.