For the past few months, all Tyler talks about is phonics. If you have a child in Reception, you will know what I mean. He is reading letters and spelling out words everywhere we go. So it was really good timing when Tinyme got in contact and sent us their personalised ‘The Amazing Alphabet’ book. And it really is amazing, it is an alphabet book with a story running though that features Tyler!
It came in the most stylish looking envelope within a week, so a very fast turnaround, and when I took out the book, I fell in love with the cutie letter characters. The illustrator is really talented. And then when I showed it to Tyler, he was so so happy, especially when he saw his name. He couldn’t wait to read it.
That was back around the beginning of March, and literally everyday he has wanted to read this book – he calls it his ‘phonics’ book. The story is just so humorous, and for me it was really useful for a random reason. Tyler has been asking questions about everything and anything these days – why this? what is that? but why? Anyway, he asked me what does ‘lonely’ mean, and I found it really hard to explain, as it’s a feeling, isn’t it.
Well, this book is all about Little Z feeling lonely, and in the story Tyler has to help Little Z find a friend and it goes through all the letters of the alphabet. It is such a cute and funny story, each letter has it’s flaws from A – Y, until Big Z of course, who is perfect. And each letter is described using words beginning with that letter, which is really clever. Here is an example:
The pages are so bright and cheerful, well I feel happy looking at them.
And to top it all off, there’s a newspaper cutting on the back page featuring Tyler:
I was told there was an app to go with the book, but I was too lazy to download it straightaway, I’m just not into tech-y things. Silly me… as when I finally did download it (which was really easy, it only took a minute) the book came too life – literally!
Basically, you hold the phone over the book, and the letters move around and talk, and you have a man reading the story to you in a humorous voice. Since Tyler discovered this, he is now obsessed with it. This book is being read everyday.
The one downside is my arm hurt from holding it up as he wanted to read it again and again, but now he just does it himself. I think we need some sort of phone holder. Letter N is his favourite, as he is ‘naughty’ and has a ‘net’ and oh, those are some ‘nuts’ with sombreros. So random!
The story does include ‘zucchinis’ rather than courgettes, and in the app, Little Z is pronounced Little ‘Zee’, as the makers are from Australia. In fact Tinyme are run by 3 dads, and have grown from a 1 person start-up to a 50+ team in Australia, the US and the UK. It would be nice if they had adapted the story slightly for the UK, but with kids watching so much YouTube these days, they are used to Americanisms when it comes to the alphabet. Also, the book is a bit flimsy, and Lily has managed to tear it at the spine, so if you do buy one, keep it away from younger siblings!
This is honestly his favourite book, he goes to bed with it, and he knows the story off by heart. I should video him telling the story, it is so cute. Keep an eye out for a future vlog!
The Amazing Alphabet Personalised Storybook costs £20, and you can get one from the tinyme website. I totally recommend it, especially if you have a child of Reception age who is learning phonics. It definitely goes hand in hand with what they are learning at school.
Sabrina x
Please note I was sent The Amazing Alphabet book with no charge, but all words and opinions are honest and are my own as always.
