Alphabet Books
A New Lottery Book, page 19.
Alphabet books were created to establish a sound foundation of learning to meet the child’s needs. The rhythm of the rhyming couplets would be an effective teaching device. All three chapbooks employ a “reading ladder” – a progression of steps to teach reading. A “reading ladder” begins with associating a letter with a single word; such as "D for dog", then progresses to a short sentence.
Each chapbook features the alphabet in upper and lower case to help the child recognize the different forms of the letters. The illustrations match the letter so children have a mnemonic device for learning that letter. Although, some of the letters are more difficult to illustrate than others, as can be seen below.
The letter 'x' in
The Royal Alphabet, page 14.
The letter 'x' in
The Rise of Learning, page 43.
The letter 'x' in
A New Lottery Book, page 37.
These chapbooks illustrate three distinctive styles in teaching the alphabet. In The Rise of Learning a child could progressively work their way through the letters and phonics, to syllables. A New Lottery Book would provide an interaction between the parent and child with the diversions and simple sentences. While The Royal Alphabet would need to be read to a child. An interesting feature of these three chapbooks is that the alphabets range from 24 to 27 letters.
