Category: alphabet

Have you ever wondered why the X in “xylophone” sounds more like a “Z”? Or how about how the P in “Psychic” is basically silent and serves essentially no purpose?

Well, it turns out you’re not alone, because rapper Lushlife and his friend, computer programmer Chris Carpenter, wondered the same thing. Lushlife and Chris were playing some alphabet flashcards with their kids, when they pulled out a card that was a little bit odd. That moment inspired P is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever.

Carpenter said in an interview with Bored Panda,

“We were hanging out with our mutual friends and their kid, playing with these alphabet flashcards. We both got a laugh out of the card for “Q” which read: ‘Q is for Quinoa.’ That was so entertaining to us because, well, what little kid knows or cares about quinoa? And also, isn’t that a terrible “Q” word, considering that it isn’t even phonetic? That was the moment that sparked the initial idea to create our own alphabet book with only words like quinoa.”

What started out being hilarious, later became a serious endeavor.

“Neither of us are children’s book authors by trade — Chris is a computer programmer, and I’m a rapper otherwise known as Lushlife,” he said. “When we started down the road to bring this book to life, I don’t think we realized just how long the process would take. From start to finish, the project took almost three years to complete.”

As they steadily found these mischievous words, they stumbled upon the lesson we, as parents, should teach our children at an earlier age.

“We tend to underestimate our children when we present an overly simplified version of the world in teaching certain subjects. It can be enormously frustrating, for example, to have a particular set of spelling rules drilled into one’s head, only to discover later that “I before E” is a giant conspiracy. Of course, the basics are important too, but why not hint at a more complete picture from a relatively early stage, and trust that our kids can handle it?”

And many parents agreed, rushing out to buy up the book.

Per The Guardian, the first print run of 10,000  sold out in a flash and over 100,000 orders are still needing to be filled.

Weeks later, it is still an Amazon #1 Best Seller.

“The first day we sold out of the entire first run; it’s been quite surreal from there,” said Haldar, whose book is now sitting at No 8 on the New York Times bestseller list. “It’s been totally unexpected.”

 

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