Elsewhere at Home: The fantastic world of letters from A to Z. And a little more.

By Iwon Blum and Margo Vera

“Elsewhere at home” wants to bring the letters closer to our big and small readers. Each creature represents a letter of the alphabet. Every creature’s character and personality is described in a poem, which features the specific letter as often as possible. But “Elsewhere at home” is not an alphabet textbook in the classic sense.

The creatures in this book wish for the readers to take the time and delve into their stories and environments. They hope for you to live in their world for a bit, maybe even think of a couple of adventures to have together. If anybody discovers their love for reading… that would not be too bad either.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books on Demand
• Release date: Nov 13, 2014
• ISBN: 9783735704610

Iwon Blum

Iwon Blum studied scientific illustrations at the Zurich School of Arts and graduated in 2001 with this book as her dissertation. The idea for this book came from the unpleasant experience in her primary class, being confused by these hostile letters, and thus refusing to learn how to read and write. Only later when the little Iwon had accepted all 26 letters as her friends, did reading and writing become fun. So much fun to the point that big Iwon works as a journalist and gets to play with the alphabet all the time.

Book preview

26 new friends

It was not fair, 26 against one. The majority was overwhelming. Until I was 8 years old I was not able to make friends with the 26 letters of the alphabet. Somehow I had missed the moment. Suddenly everyone in my class was reading and writing except for me.

Every time we had to read or write in class I closed my eyes hoping the teacher wouldn’t see me. Well, most of the time this did not work. Often I was sent out of class to put me to shame for my repeated refusal to read out loud. This pedagogical method didn’t help me learn the letters. And so the desperate teacher finally called my