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The Night They Stole the Alphabet
When three mysterious robbers steal the alphabet, a little girl pursues them through a strange land inhabited by a wicked witch, a mermaid with human feet, and a fairy with detachable wings.
190 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1968
1 person is currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
Sesyle Joslin
50 books12 followersSesyle Joslin is a children's literature author. Joslin's book What Do You Say, Dear? was illustrated by Maurice Sendak and it was a Caldecott Medal Honor book in 1959.
Joslin was born in Providence, RI, on August 30, 1929. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, she worked as an editorial assistant and assistant editor in Philadelphia, and was the book columnist at Country Gentleman magazine from 1949 through 1951. In 1950, she married writer Al Hine. The couple had three children. In addition, she served as a production assistant on Peter Brook's Lord of the Flies (1963 film) and worked on location in Puerto Rico.
In addition to writing under her own name, Joslin also used a few pseudonyms. Under the name Josephine Gibson, she and her husband wrote Is There a Mouse in the House? (Macmillan, 1965). And under the name G. B. Kirtland they wrote One Day in Ancient Rome (Harcourt, 1961), One Day in Elizabethan England (Harcourt, 1962), and One Day in Aztec Mexico (Harcourt, 1963).
Joslin was born in Providence, RI, on August 30, 1929. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, she worked as an editorial assistant and assistant editor in Philadelphia, and was the book columnist at Country Gentleman magazine from 1949 through 1951. In 1950, she married writer Al Hine. The couple had three children. In addition, she served as a production assistant on Peter Brook's Lord of the Flies (1963 film) and worked on location in Puerto Rico.
In addition to writing under her own name, Joslin also used a few pseudonyms. Under the name Josephine Gibson, she and her husband wrote Is There a Mouse in the House? (Macmillan, 1965). And under the name G. B. Kirtland they wrote One Day in Ancient Rome (Harcourt, 1961), One Day in Elizabethan England (Harcourt, 1962), and One Day in Aztec Mexico (Harcourt, 1963).
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 16, 2013
I remembered having liked this a lot as a child, so picked it up again to see what it was. Turns out this book is one of those that a child would like more than an adult.
The Night they Stole the Alphabet is quite a bit like The Phantom Tollbooth with aspects of The Wizard of Oz , but decidedly more British. A feverish little girl watches the alphabet being stolen from her wall. She jumps up to chase the robbers and ends up on a quest to retrieve the letters in a bizarre land of wordplay and trippy characters and circumstances straight out of a drug-induced hallucination (this book was published the same year as the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, after all).
While the end was too abrupt and unsatisfying for me, the remainder of the book was enjoyable enough. For me, the most interesting aspect was reading Britishisms from a previous generation, including a heavy amount of childhood playground rhymes and a few characters who speak only in thick East-Ender London dialect.
I do recommend The Night they Stole the Alphabet for your children and it won't take you long to read it yourself. Just don't expect it to join the ranks of more popular youth fiction.
The Night they Stole the Alphabet is quite a bit like The Phantom Tollbooth with aspects of The Wizard of Oz , but decidedly more British. A feverish little girl watches the alphabet being stolen from her wall. She jumps up to chase the robbers and ends up on a quest to retrieve the letters in a bizarre land of wordplay and trippy characters and circumstances straight out of a drug-induced hallucination (this book was published the same year as the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour, after all).
While the end was too abrupt and unsatisfying for me, the remainder of the book was enjoyable enough. For me, the most interesting aspect was reading Britishisms from a previous generation, including a heavy amount of childhood playground rhymes and a few characters who speak only in thick East-Ender London dialect.
I do recommend The Night they Stole the Alphabet for your children and it won't take you long to read it yourself. Just don't expect it to join the ranks of more popular youth fiction.
January 12, 2020
What a beautiful fever dream. This book was one of my favorites as a child for its wit and imagination, and I was thrilled to find that there were jokes and puns I got in this reading that I didn't even know I was missing. It's shades of The Wizard of Oz and The Phantom Tollbooth, but the plot felt more like its own story, with a girl duty-bound to recover the stolen letters that she felt like she was the protector of. After all, could she go back to a world where the book of fairy tales was empty? I think that's one of the things I loved so much about this - it wasn't a tornado or boredom that brought her to these magical lands, it was her sense of purpose and right and wrong. Plus, Victoria's new friends came back and back and back. She didn't collect and keep them; she didn't meet them and move on. It was her mission, but she had help. I just continue to love this story, and I'm glad my memory didn't fail me about its delights.
July 27, 2019
Original, imaginative, magical. I read this library book as a kid many times and it always lurked in the attic of my mind as an adult. I searched in bookstores to no avail (it is out of print). I finally located it on Amazon for a high price, but I consider it a children's classic, similar to the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, featuring an intrepid little girl who discovers a magical world where she meets strange people, some friendly, some scary, on her quest to recapture the golden alphabet letters stolen from her bedroom wallpaper.
June 19, 2021
34 years after reading this book as a child, I still love every bit of it. In fact, I made a spectacular effort to find this now out-of-print book that was only published once ten years before I was born (in 1968).
As an avid reader in my youth there were so many books I loved to go back to. The Night They Stole the Alphabet was certainly one I read and re-read (and re-re-read). When I had my own children who I thought would love the book, I searched high and low. After some research I discovered it was out of print. A copy would set me back $100. And worth every. Single. Cent.
When Victoria is awoken in the middle of the night to robbers stealing the very alphabet that created the world around her, she knew something had to be done. Fantastical, witty, imaginative, and wild. This book is entertaining for children of all ages.
As an avid reader in my youth there were so many books I loved to go back to. The Night They Stole the Alphabet was certainly one I read and re-read (and re-re-read). When I had my own children who I thought would love the book, I searched high and low. After some research I discovered it was out of print. A copy would set me back $100. And worth every. Single. Cent.
When Victoria is awoken in the middle of the night to robbers stealing the very alphabet that created the world around her, she knew something had to be done. Fantastical, witty, imaginative, and wild. This book is entertaining for children of all ages.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews