Miss Alaineous 
by Debra Frasier

Sniffling and coughing through a week at home with a cold, Sage (one who shows wisdom, experience, judgment") misunderstands one of Mrs. Page's vocabulary words in the homework assignment, and the resulting embarrassment in front of her fifth-grade class leaves her "devastated: wasted, ravaged. Ruined: destroyed. Finished: brought to an end." Miss Alaineus is not, as Sage determined in her "defective and delirious" mind, "the woman on green spaghetti boxes whose hair is the color of uncooked pasta and turns into spaghetti at the ends." Sage slumps home after the vocabulary bee fiasco, to her mom's comforting, if seemingly impossible words: "There's gold in every mistake." Fortunately, and as always, mothers know best.

Debra Frasier (author-illustrator of On the Day You Were Born) has created a masterpiece of clever wordplay in her hilarious and poignant story of the exquisite pain of schoolgirl mortification. One sentence using vocabulary words from A to Z runs along the bottom or side of each page ("Obliterate me, send me to oblivion--no one could outdo my stupidity"). Not just for word-worms, virtually any kid will identify with the occasionally confusing world of learning, and be reassured by the happy conclusion. (Review from Amazon.com)

Frindle
by Andrew Clements

Nicholas is a bright boy who likes to make trouble at school, creatively. When he decides to torment his fifth-grade English teacher, Mrs. Granger (who is just as smart as he is), by getting everyone in the class to replace the word ``pen'' with ``frindle,'' he unleashes a series of events that rapidly spins out of control. If there's any justice in the world, Clements (Temple Cat, 1995, etc.) may have something of a classic on his hands. By turns amusing and adroit, this first novel is also utterly satisfying. The chess like sparring between the gifted Nicholas and his crafty teacher is enthralling, while Mrs. Granger is that rarest of the breed: a teacher the children fear and complain about for the school year, and love and respect forever after. With comically realistic black-and-white illustrations by Selznick (The Robot King, 1995, etc.), this is a captivating tale--one to press upon children, and one they'll be passing among themselves. (Fiction. 8-12) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP.  

C D B
by William Steig

 -The New Yorker cartoonist and revered author of dozens of other magnificent books--first wrote and illustrated the original, black-and-white edition of CDB! more than 30 years ago. Adding splashes of watercolor on larger, broader pages (and an answer key in the back!), Steig brings new life to his well-loved favorite. For the uninitiated, "C D B!" translates to "See the bee!" Other letter codes are more challenging, such as the boy leaning on a tree saying "I F-N N-E N-R-G" or a droopy decrepit man slouching in a chair labeled "O-L H." Once you get used to this abbreviated Steig-speak, all (or at least most) will become clear--"X" sometimes means "eggs," "D" is sometimes "the," and "S" can be "is" or "has," for example. Or, you can just read the letters out loud over and over until the proper phrase emerges plain as day. (The pictures help, too, of course!) Those who crave more wordplay will want to explore CDC? This book is nothing less than X-L-N, and no home where words are celebrated should be without it. (Ages 5 to 105) (Review from Amazon.com)
 

Abby Cadabra, Super Speller
by All Aboard Reading

Abby Cadabra is the best speller at the Hoakus Croakus School-that is until the arrival of a new student and equally talented speller, Wanda Cassandra. The competition between the two little witches is fierce, leading right up to the day of the big Spelling Bee. Not until then do they realize that F-R-I-E-N-D-S-H-I-P is the best "spell" of all. This is an All Aboard Reading Level Two book. (Review from Amazon.com)

 
Phoebe and the Spelling Bee
by Barney Saltzberg

After lying to her friend Katie about not studying for a spelling bee, Phoebe feels terrible and decides to study after all. Although she does not win the spelling bee, she is rewarded for the clever stories she makes up to remember words. The cheerful, childlike drawings help portray Phoebe as a spunky, likable character. -- Copyright © 1998 The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved

Pinky and Rex and the Spelling Bee
by James Howe

Rex is a terrible speller, and she's afraid she's going to embarrass herself in front of the whole class at today's spelling bee. Pinky, on the other hand, is a great speller, and he's sure he's going to be champion of the second grade again.

But Pinky isn't counting on the new kid in class, who's a great speller, too. And he's certainly not counting on embarrassing himself in a way so terrible that winning or losing doesn't even matter. It's a good thing he can count on Rex to make him feel better on the worst day of his life. (Review by Amazon.com)
Note: If you haven’t tried the Pinky and Rex series they are excellent for beginning chapter book readers. My second graders LOVED this series. I always had to buy more because they were read over and over until they fell apart. There are 6 titles in the series by James Howe (author of Bunnicula).

The Letters Are Lost
By Lisa Campbell Ernst
The premise of this alphabet book by Lisa Ernst is that the wooden blocks, with one letter to a block, were once together in their box. But now they've all gone astray. Where are they? Well, the A is in an airplane, the B has tumbled into the bath, and the L has landed in a pile of leaves. Each block is prominently featured in the framed paintings that show simple shapes and situations, which are, for the most part, easily identifiable to young ones. Although there is nothing especially groundbreaking about her book, Ernst gets high marks for having everything just right: the colors, the size, the appeal. At the book's conclusion, the blocks are back together but "not for long. Soon they will disappear again. Can you guess where they might go?" An open invitation to have children make up their own scenarios while learning their letters. Fun! Reviewed by Booklist.

 Alphabet Soup
by Kate Banks and Peter Sis

A boy's ability to spell words with his alphabet soup comes in handy during the magical journey he takes in his mind with a friendly bear.

The Alphabet Tree
by Leo Lionni

The letters on an alphabet tree, torn and tossed by the wind, find strength in banding together to form words. Then a clever caterpillar teaches the letters to become even stronger by forming sentences with a message of peace in a gentle parable about the power of the written word. (Review by Amazon.com) 

Alphabetical Order
by Tiphaine Simoyault

Who invented the alphabet? How many different alphabets are there? Why do people need to write? All of these questions are discussed in Alphabetical Order: How the Alphabet Began. With full-color charts and illustrations showing exactly how signs and symbols evolved into letters and words, Alphabetical Order is a chance to see and understand the story behind the different alphabets people use every day. Tiphaine Samoyault is a professor of literature near Paris, where she makes her home. With full-color charts and illustrations showing exactly how signs and symbols evolved into letters and words, "Alphabetical Order" is a chance to see and understand the story behind the different alphabets people use every day. Reviewed by Amazon.com (Ages 9-12)

The Disappearing Alphabet
by Richard Wilbur

This collection of 26 poems by Richard Wilbur offers a delicious way to take some spelling medicine as they play with the importance of each letter of the alphabet. Wilbur challenges the young reader (and entertains both young and old) with whimsical yet sophisticated wordplay as he ponders a world in which the alphabet begins to fade away. It's a world where cows eat hy instead of hay and serpents and snakes become hiss-less erpents and nakes. Children will be amused by the nonsense words and intrigued by Diaz's bold computer-generated artwork. A 1999 Parents' Choice® Recommendation. (Kay MacIntosh, Parents' Choice®)
 

The War Between the Vowels and the Consonants
by Priscilla Turner

As long as any letter could remember, Vowels and Consonants had been enemies. As they waged their fierce war, an enemy of all the alphabet appeared on the horizon--one which neither Vowels nor Consonants could conquer alone. (Description from Amazon.com)

 Word Wizard
by Cathryn Falwell

Eating alphabet cereal at breakfast, Anna is delighted to realize how the letters in her cereal spoon can be rearranged into several different words. She's a word wizard! (Description from Amazon.com)

Ook the Book
by Lissa Rovetch

“I am Ook, Ook the book. Will you stop and take a look? You will see, I'm one good book!” This is no ordinary rhyming book. This is an introduction to twelve different characters including Ug the Bug, Ing the Thing and In the Twin. With fun, tongue-twisting rhymes and colorful illustrations, Ook the Book will have readers in stitches. And meanwhile, before they know it, young readers will become familiar with both the look and sounds of the phonics that make up language. A perfect book for budding book worms! 

There’s an Ant in Anthony
by Bernard Most

After discovering an "ant" in his own name, Anthony searches for the word "ant" in other words. One teacher wrote the following, “We ended up writing there's an end in Brenda and other books. Kitchen-no end in sink, no end in stove, but there's an end in blender. Fast Food Place- No end in Happy Meal at McDonalds, no end in the ice cream sundae at Dairy queen, but there's an end in Chicken Tenders at Burger king, etc. etc. (Reviews from Amazon.com)

Antics!
by Catherine Hepworth

The highly clever and original alphabet book has twenty-six beautifully crafted illustrations accompanied by words containing the syllable ant, such as brilliant, jubilant, and unpleasant. Unfortunately, a few of the chosen words are spelled incorrectly to fit the format. Otherwise, a wonderful book. -- Copyright © 1992 The Horn 
Book, Inc. All rights reserved.

Donovan’s Word Jar
by Mona Lisa DeGross

Donavan is fascinated by words. They seem to leap out at him from books, signs, even the backs of cereal boxes. He keeps the words he collects on slips of paper in a big glass jar. One day, when the jar is almost full, Donavan has a dilemma. How can he make room for new words?