A couple of weeks ago I received a VERY important Email from Sammy, Chief of Children at the Ministry of Letters. Sammy had a very important mission for Imogen as well as a mystery parcel for her. Imogen’s mission was to review Operation Alphabet a fabulous book from the Ministry.
Imogen received a letter along with her very own copy of Operation Alphabet which read:
“Dear Imogen,
We are a top-secret government dept. who until recently have had to operate in complete secrecy on the grounds of national security. That and the fact that cats eat us whenever they can.
In the last few weeks however we’ve been granted permission by the British Prime Minister to “break cover” – and are having tremendous fun doing so.
I hope you’re sitting down. I can now reveal that we make up all the word’s in the country – in every book, magazine, poster: in fact if you can read it we made it – we’ve been doing it for 180 years!
If you ever need help with the letters, words or stories, day or night, we’re here. “
Also included in Imogen’s mystery parcel were some “Standard Issue” alphabet sticker sheets which the instructions to have fun and a certificate to say that she was an “Official Pal” of the Ministry.
As you may know, Imogen started pre-school in September and is starting to recognise letters (I for Imogen, A for Amber, H for Henry and X for X-ray among others) she can also spell her own surname (not that impressive it’s only 4 letters and she hears me say it on the phone ALL the time!).
Operation Alphabet is a hardbacked book which tells the story of Charlie Foxtrot who has a bad case of the alphabetaheebeegeebees, luckily the Ministry’s SAS (Secret Alphabet Service) are on hand to help out. I won’t tell you more – I don’t want to ruin the plot! It’s a great story and beautifully illustrated. Imogen really enjoyed it and loved pointing out and naming the letters.
The whole idea of the Ministry is a great idea to get children interested in letters, books and reading and it has been very well thought out and executed. The website www.ministryofletters.com is just as fun as the book and has some great things to download including a periscope bookmark (so that the letters can see out, of course!) You can even see the profile of each of the Secret Alphabet Service and find out about their favourite words. Imogen, of course, loves I whose favourite words are Itchy, Ice Cream and Icicles.
Operation Alphabet is available to purchase from Amazon
