Ox, House, Stick - Don Robb

The History of Our Alphabet
Illustrated by Anne Smith
8-11?
9-12?
Both are cited, I'd definitely move for the upper end
2007
Rating: 3.5
$16.95
Endpapers: Large dark pink calligraphy alphabet letters

A to Zed. Here is a very interesting history of how our current alphabet came to be, going all they way back to its Sinaitic roots, through Phoenician, Early Greek, Classical Greek, and then our current ROMAN rendering. It includes history, background, and interesting information about writing, paper, utensils, and where it all started or came from. For example,

"The origin of the letter E is uncertain. The Sinaitic symbol for the word HE looks a bit like a person with upstretched arms, and perhaps it indicated someone praying. Or it may instead have meant "high." Most scholars today believe that the drawing simply represented a person expressing surprise. The Phoenician symbol for HE looks entirely different, and some believe it meant "window." Whatever its meaning, it was a consonant in both Sinaitic and Phoencian. Borrowed by the Greeks, this letter became a vowel called epsilon. In Greek, psilon means "plain" or "simple." So epsilon -- (h)e-psilon -- was their plain, or short e vowel. They used a different letter for their long e sound."

The illustrations and added information are interesting. An although I read it completely from beginning to end, I had to put it down and pick it up to keep my attention alive. Or perhaps I'm just tired and needed to "nap" (I am taking care of two very energetic kids who are wearing me out) I'm not certain how much a kid would, especially one who has no added interest in the history of the alphabet. However, for kids with a big interest in history or ancient civilizations, this would be a great choice. I've got one or two in my fifth and sixth grade classes that would enjoy this a lot.

Kid's resource cited;
How Our Alphabet Grew: The History of the Alphabet (Dugan)
Alphabet Art: Thirteen ABC's from Around the World (Fisher)
The 26 Letters (Ogg)
The Little Greek Alphabet Book (Rees)
Alphabetical Order: How the Alphabet Began (Samoyault)

There are a few websites listed, too.