A is for Donkeys

“A is for donkeys, and frolicking in
B is a black and gold buzz, with a sting…

So begins this intriguing, beguiling joint project of an alphabet book, by Bath-based writer Jonathan Hope and Italian illustrator, Riccardo Guasco” The Bath Magazine

A is for Donkeys is an alphabetic adventure with a difference. Readers are invited to delight in the sounds and semantics of the letters A to Z, discovering many quirks of the English language along the way. This is no simple reading primer – it’s an ingenious celebration of the absurdities of spelling and pronunciation, using puns and idioms both familiar and new. The stylish letterform illustrations by Riccardo Guasco beautifully amplify the humour and occasional pathos of Jonathan Hope’s playful verse.

A gem of a book for all phonetics-phobic adults and linguistically curious children.

Dr Alison Waller, University of Roehampton

Think: Neil Gaiman’s The Dangerous Alphabet meets Lewis Carroll.