Review of An Inconvenient Alphabet: Ben Franklin & Noah Webster’s Spelling Revolution by Beth Anderson

Authors

Kristen Farley, Cedarville UniversityFollow

Publisher

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

City

New York, New York, United States of America

Date of Publication

2018

ISBN

9781534405554

Date of Review

2019

Disciplines

Library and Information Science | Modern Literature

Keywords

Children's literature, reviews

Review

During the American Revolution, Ben Franklin and Noah Webster were fighting against more than English rule— they were fighting against the irregularities of the written English language. Together, these men challenged phonetic standards with new phonetic rules of their own, even though it took years before any real progress occurred. Against the habits of old, established writers, the publication of Webster’s standardized American dictionary guided America towards a more unified standard of English. As a whirlwind tour of a very technical subject, the author attempts to create an engaging story, but the limited narrative might be hard for students to latch onto. To that end, the illustrations seem to compensate for the limited narrative, but they leave a busy visual distraction upon the page. More suitable for individual student use, but probably not suitable content for a new or struggling reader, as the pages are inundated with the difficulties of problematic spellings and the English language.

Optional

Kristen Farley, Centennial Library Intern

Recommended Citation

Farley, Kristen, "Review of An Inconvenient Alphabet: Ben Franklin & Noah Webster’s Spelling Revolution by Beth Anderson" (2019). Library Intern Book Reviews. 262.
https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/intern_book_reviews/262

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