Written and Illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault
While you might not have heard of the NATO Phonetic alphabet or the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet you have probably heard someone use it. The military members use it, as do emergency workers, airline pilots and sometimes even confused sales people on the other end of the phone.
C stands for Charlie and Z is Zulu. But it isn’t that easy to figure out in this book. On each left side page grade three readers will find one word with the first letter a different color than the rest of the word. The different colored letters help keep the alphabet in order and offer clues to the reader.
Some of the clues will still leave readers without much help due to their age. However, this does provide an introduction to a code used by emergency responders to clarify communication over radios and walkie-talkies of the past.
Librarians and teachers will want to use this book to fill a niche left open in the past. Normally, this alphabet is taught on a need to know basis for adults. But it is good for students to become familiar with something they will hear from time to time.
Title: Alpha- Author/Illustrator: Isabelle Arsenault
- Publisher: Candlewick Press, 2015
- Reviewer: Elizabeth Swartz
- Format: Hardcover, 64 pages
- ISBN: 978-0-7636-7852-4
- Genre: Non-Fiction
- Grade level: 3 Up
- Extras: The author’s note at the end of the book explains this emergency code.
