How the Ant Met the Zebra

This is a charming children's story about a city ant that goes to the country to visit his friends, a cat and a dog. They have a good time together and meet a horse named George, a lion flying a kite, a very friendly octopus, and a busy zebra. If you want to, you can also use this book to help teach children the alphabet and how to read using phonics and the 42 Magic Words that are always shaded in the story. These 42 words start with ordinary, easy-to-read words like ant, bus, cat, dog, egg, fish, gate, etc. They are "magic" because they contain at least one spelling of all of the 40 sounds in the English language. In the back of the book is useful information that explains phonics and how to teach your children to read. This book teaches children the letters of the alphabet and all of the 40 sounds in English, using songs and other fun activities. These sounds include the five short vowel sounds, the five long vowel sounds, the five other vowel sounds (aw, er, ow, oy, and short oo), and the digraphs: ch, ph, sh, th, wh, and -ng. As you read this story to children over and over again, they can learn to read the 42 Magic Words. This will give them a great start in learning to read. Later children can enjoy reading this book themselves. (Comment from the author: I wanted to see if I could make it easier for children to learn to read using phonics by introducing short and long vowels at the same time. And by teaching them not just the alphabet, but also teaching them all of the 40 sounds in English, using songs and other fun activities. This is the purpose of this book. Pat Stryker)