I have to admit, I can hardly remember when I first learned my ABC’s.
I remember being a voracious reader all throughout my childhood, but I barely remember how I got started with those fundamental building blocks. I must have learned the song early on, but can’t recall how I got a grasp on the visuals.
Of course, the most important thing is that I did learn it. People will go to any length imaginable to help make communication easier — like the sweet daughter who makes handmade braille cards for her mom — and the teachers and parents who help kids learn to read every day.
In fact, over the centuries, people have come up with dozens of alphabets and writing systems, and just as many ways to pass them down to the next generation.
As recently as 100 years ago, people had already caught on to the idea of making writing and reading accessible to large groups of children by developing tools like the "Alphabet Song," and illustrated picture books that explain the different letters through clever stories!
At the moment, our favorite is a laugh-out-loud funny alphabet from the 1910s, told through a story about pie!
We all have to learn our ABC's one way or another, so why not make a fun game of it? Back in the 1910s, they certainly knew how to make learning fun!
The story starts out with the premise of a tasty apple pie, hot out of the oven, and a group of kids who eagerly taste it and divide it up amongst themselves, learning their letters all the while!
The picture book, part of the catalogue of the New York Public Library, goes on to use letters E through H to detail exactly what happens when the sharing doesn't go as peacefully as it should!
The alphabet skips right over "I" and immediately moves into using letters J, K, L, and M to teach kids the moral consequences of their actions when they don't share: no one gets the pie.
By letter N, things are looking more promising, as the alphabet shows the kids reaping the reward for good behavior. They're finally due to get a slice of the pie, and by Q ,it's being sliced up!
The last few letters of the alphabet find the kids competing in every way imaginable to earn their slice of the pie, from running to singing. By the very end, everything ends on a happy note, as all of the children get their slice before bedtime!
How different is this from your own experience of learning the ABC's? Tell us all about it in the quiz below!
And if you love this cute look into how kids used to learn the alphabet, don't forget to SHARE with anyone who will get a kick out of this old-fashioned primer!
