The War Between the Vowels and the Consonants

by Priscilla Turner, Whitney Turner (Illustrator)

The unknown history of letters

For as long as any letter could remember, Vowels and Consonants had been enemies.

U without N? Q without U? Mpssh! you say. Yet once, long ago, P's and Q's minded their p's and q's, and though U and I deserved not one iota of respect. For their part, Vowels knew only that the dot on the youngest i was far moe important than the most capital W.

And so they came to wage a fierce war to prove who were the better letters. But as S's outflank E's and O's surround H's, an enemy of all the alphabet appers on the horizon--one which neither Vowels or Consonants can conquer alone.

In this hilarious look at the hidden life of letters, Priscilla and Whitney Turner reveal how sworn enemies become allies and discovered what you and I now take for that the pen is mightier than the swrd.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, School, Fiction, Humor

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance]

Am I the only person who finds children's
books to be the best books around? Maybe
I should write All I Really Need to
Read I Read in Kindergarten. Recommended.

[Luisa Knight]

Parents, the story is for you; the pictures are for your kids! Incredibly clever and fun, this has something for every age and will be enjoyed by all. A real delight! Read it ... and then let me know what you think! :)

Ages: 4+

Content Considerations: the last picture has couples (letters) dancing.

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[Shaeley Santiago]

Really cute book to use with beginning readers about the differences between vowels and consonants.

[K. Anna Kraft]

This is possibly the best book I have ever read.

[Josephine Sorrell]

He loved when the red letters were falling out of all the planes amount the scribbles.

[Ben Razer]

at the wor itwus Vowels forses Consonants.They fited on see on land in thescy.

[Julie]

Published in 1996, presumably to teach children useful knowledge about letters and the value of cooperation, this book is a story for our times.

The vowels and consonants, divided into opposing camps due to their belief in various stereotypes about each other and historically at odds, go to war, causing terrible suffering and destruction.

But they unite against a common foe—a squiggle, a scribble, a force of chaos. Neither a vowel nor a consonant, but a threat to all meaning.

The vowels and consonants stop fighting each other and unite to form the word STOP, and afterward, to deliver the message:

GO AWAY YOU SILLY NONSENSE

(Punctuation has not yet arrived on the scene).

The evil scrawl collapses and slinks away.
The vowels and consonants resolve to work together to create beauty through language and literature.

I’m writing this tonight before the first Presidential debate of the 2024 election. I’d read this book to my children many years ago, but it’s been tickling at the back of my mind for years now. I’d forgotten all about the vowels and consonants. I remembered only the opposing forces joining together to fight the collapse of meaning. I finally figured out what the book was and got it from our library system today.

We need all groups of people in all the various camps, in spite of the stereotypes we have about one another—anyone who believes in the stability of truth and the possibility of shared meaning—to fight the chaos of meaninglessness.

It’s the only way to send the silly nonsense packing.

[Camden]

If you are trying to teach basic reading, writing, or spelling skills what a great book. It is captivating and does a great job of keeping your attention. This is great since sometimes this can be a boring or hard to remember a topic for kids.

[Brittany]

Very cleaver story weaving vowels and consonants into an historic reference of the civil war.
For instance the letter Y. "Is a house divided." Love this. My 5 year old was advertising this to her kindergarten class so everyone knew how to point out a consonant and a vowel.

[Erin Craig]

I thought the book was a cute read and it has a good lesson to it.

[Sidney Carnes]

This cute and educational book can be used to teach the understanding of consonant and vowel history in the classroom.

[Sandy]

This fun little book reinforces the differences of vowels and consonants and how things are so much better when the work together.

[Renee Taylor]

This was a cute little book showing how vowels and consonants come together.

[Chappyfamily]

Clever little book, fun way to teach the kids about vowls and consonants

[Maren Cobb]

Love how it takes real curriculum and turns it into a humorous story easy for the students to understand

[Catherine Pieri]

The vowels and consonants go to war! The reader will be able to learn what these are and how they are used while also making it incredibly fun to read.

[Megan]

What an amazing book to read to children. Not only does it talk about vowels and consonants and how they are used, it also shows how if you work together as a team, you are able to conquer more tasks. One part of this book that I found refreshing was that there was a bit of violence in it. I know that may sound weird to say about a children's book, but if you think about it, many of the life lessons in children's books are sugar coated. This one is a bit sugar coated, do not misunderstand me, I mean come on, vowels and consonants would never really fight, but there is fighting in the real world that could be resolved by working together. This real world concept that would be taught at an early age is beneficial to the world as we progress.

I would recommend this book for 1st through 4th grades.

[Becky B]

Ever since anyone can remember, Vowels and Consonants have not mixed. Eventually their prejudices lead to war. Screeching vowels are set against intimidating grrrs. It seems the war will go on forever, until a new threat shows up and the two sides must work together or all be destroyed.

A somewhat tongue-in-cheek tale that could help kids better remember which letters are vowels and which are consonants. (Incidentally, I loved how the Ys in the story were depicted as a house divided by the war, and were also spies.) This could be a sobering book as well. It definitely illustrates how petty arguments that can lead to horrible battles, something all too real in our world. But that could also lead to a great discussion of how to avoid letting something silly and little grow out of control. So it could be used both when learning letters and talking about peacemaking.

[The Brothers]

The Vowels and the Consonants live in uneasy peace next to one another. They don't like each other and they certainly never mix! But one day and insult turns into a rock thrown which quickly escalates to WAR! The letters fight and fight, but get no where. Only when both Vowels and Consonants are threatened by a great squiggly lined mass that they realize they must band together to save themselves. Words lead to sentences lead to paragraphs lead to books! Who can prevail against that?

Dexter (6yo) particularly liked this one.


Great illustrations.

[Khadija Bensaadoun]

An amusing story about vowels and consonants being enemies. Through their battles they finally become allies and discover all their potential in making words, sentences and paragraphs! This book would be great when intruding students to vowel and consonant letters. For an activity the students can go on a scavenger hunt in the classroom and they can group the letters and make them into words. Grades 1-2

[Brittany]

I chose to place this book in my shelves labeled writing workshop and mini lessons. I chose this because this book gives a great depiction of how vowels and consonants work together as a team. This story can be used to introduce a mini lesson about vowels and consonants and then have the students work on activities associated with the theme. Students can also use the information in this text when the are participating in writing workshop.

[Jacqueline Archdeacon]

I loved this book! I would definitely read it in my classroom. The book incorporates reading skills, because every character in the book if either a vowel or a consonant. At first I though the book was too sad to read to children, because it was all about the conflict/war between the two segregated groups. However, in the end the story is about acceptance and unity! The letters learn to work together to create sentences, stories, poems, etc.

[Sharlene Spencer]

The vowels and the consonants are at war. They realize they had a bigger problem when the scribble showed up in town. he vowels and the consonants had to work together to get rid of their common nemesis. This book teaches that we use vowels and consonants to make words. It can also be use to introduce the civil war.

[Haley Sterritt]

This was such a cute little book! It lists the vowels on one team and consonants on the other. The y is sometimes on both teams. The book ends with the vowels and consonants coming together to defeat the scribbles. They realize they are better together! This is cute to introduce the different in vowels and consonants and how to solve problems.

[Kelci Cox-Griswold]

The vowels and the consonants are at war. When a giant scribble enters the town they can't get it to eave. They pull together to make words to get rid of it and realize how great they can be together. This book would be great to use to teach kids the difference between vowels and consonants.

[John Schlotfelt]

This is the perfect book if you don't just want to teach your child about consonants and vowels but also class warfare, conventional warfare, the perils of being caught in the middle (poor Y), and the power of uniting against something complicated you don't understand. I still give it three stars.

[Shala Howell]

Funny. :)

[Bookwyrmgyrl]

This is a fun picture book.

[Louise]

very fun!!!!

[Debra]

K - 3

Teaching vowels and consonants - long a sound especially