Take Away the A
Written by Michael Escoffier, Illustrated by Kris Di Giacomo

Publisher’s Summary:
Take Away the A is a fun, imaginative romp through the alphabet. The idea behind the book is that within every language there are words that change and become a different word through the simple subtraction of a single letter. In other words, without the “A,” the Beast is Best. Or, without the “M,” a chomp becomes a chop–though it could be that this particular play on words didn’t even make it into the book, there are so many! We certainly don’t want to give too much away. . . . Now, take a look and find some more! Discovering all of the words in the book is a lot of fun, and then there’s the wild, exciting adventure that follows, of trying to find more!

Primary Source Pairing:
Author and illustrator team Michael Escoffier and Kris Di Giacomo also wrote a book like Take Away the A,  but in French. Each language is unique, and the French version Sans Le A is as clever as Take Away the A. For this primary source pairing, invite students to compare the English and French versions of the book.

“Sans le R le marin besoin d’un coup de main” is translated as “Without the R, the sailor needs a helping hand.”

Questions for Discussion:

• What do you notice first?
• Find something small but interesting.
• What do you notice that you didn’t expect?
• What is different when comparing the two versions?
• What is the same when comparing the two versions?

Credits:
Book Cover and Summary: Follett
Sans Le A book cover: Amazon
Sans Le R book page: Pinterest