Spell It Right!

by Ellen M. Shapiro

This book is for everyone who finds it TOO easy TO mix up TWO or more words like ‘wear’ and ‘where,’ ‘one’ and ‘won,’ and ‘peak’ and ‘peek.’ “Spell It Right” uses whimsical, colorful, illustrated wordplay to help everyone understand the meanings and spellings of common word pairs that sound exactly alike but are spelled differently and have very different meanings. This is Alphagram’s first product for people of all ages — from grade school up. Author Ellen M. Shapiro realized that many adults mix up tricky word pairs in their writing—in college essays, Facebook posts, articles published online, and even self-published novels. Alas, spell-check doesn't catch those errors. Each double-page spread of this 28-page booklet features a comprehensive chart of alternative spellings of English letter-sounds and, opposite it, illustrated examples, and a short list of words chosen to help everyone “write the right word.”

24 pages

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

Hi, I’m Ellen Shapiro, graphic designer and writer, head of Visual Language LLC, a New York communications firm. A graduate of UCLA's College of Fine Arts, I write about projects, education, and trends in graphic and product design, advertising, photography, typography, and illustration.
My new novel, THE SECRET BUTTONS, historical fiction for readers 10 and up, follows the journey two young girls from Vienna, Austria, to wartime rural England, to Brooklyn. New York, where they rebuild some of what was lost in the Holocaust and all of themselves.
My first book, “Clients and Designers,” was published by Watson-Guptill in 1989. I’ve written two editions of “The Graphic Designer’s Guide to Clients” (Skyhorse, 2014). My award-winning Alphagram Learning Materials (http:theAlphagramShop.etsy.com) are helping kids everywhere learn to read, write, and spell.Magazine writing includes essays and firm profiles for Communication Arts; serving as a contributing editor of Print magazine; and continuing to write and photograph for printmag (https://www.printmag.com/author/ellen...).
I’ve been privileged to judge design and advertising shows. the New School, and Pratt Institute, and lecture and speak (https://visualanguage.net/media/).