ALA Booklist

This artful fable tells of a time when letters coexisted as two mutually distrustful social groups: the Consonants, who warned their young, Never trust a Vowel! The long and short of it is, they are sly, cunning, two-faced creatures, and the Vowels, who told their children not to stray into the Consonant Quarter, for who could imagine what horrible things a gang of roving Consonants might do to an unsuspecting Vowel? War is declared and takes its toll until a common enemy unites the letters to do what they do best together: make words. Children in the midst of learning to read and write will enjoy the drama and humor evident in both the words and illustrations. Energetic yet controlled, the colorful artwork will draw children to this witty story. The letters are personalized enough to make them intriguing without descending into cuteness. A high-spirited picture book recommended for reading aloud. (Reviewed December 1, 1996)

Horn Book

The Vowels and the Consonants have always carped at one another, but now their dislike and distrust escalate into a veritable alphabet battle. The opposing forces, acting on the advice of the diplomatic 'Y's, then combine armies and defeat a dark enemy that threatens to vanquish them both. With amateurish illustrations and a preposterous premise, the allegory is neither clever nor amusing.

Kirkus Reviews

Only occasional flashes of cleverness illuminate this parable of warring camps uniting in the face of a common threat. The uneasy truce between the aristocratic vowels and the plebian consonants finally breaks down into open warfare, but at the advent of a giant scribble (oxymoronically described as zigs and zags with no form at all''), they join together toSTOP'' the monster and bid it GO AWAY.'' I can't fight that,' whimpered the jumble.Next they'll make paragraphs . . . pages . . . chapters. . . ' '' Sprouting stick limbs and large hats, the letters, uppercase if adult, lowercase when young, swarm antlike across cleanly drawn backdrops. Just think what we can accomplish together,'' enthuses the Supreme Command to the Commander in Chief.The poems! The plays! Our memoirs!'' Actually, even careless readers will notice that both sides have been using each other right along in speech, an evidently unintended paradox. Next to books like Eve Merriam's Fighting Words (1992) or Bill Martin and John Archambault's Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), the language play here seems clumsy. (Picture book. 6-8)"

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

The Turners trump standard alphabet books with this singular story, which concludes as the battling letters finally unite to fight a greater foe: a giant, illegible scribble,"""" said PW. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4--Narrated in a pseudo-serious tone, this is the fable of vowels and consonants who do not get along. There is terrible bickering and constant rivalry between them. Finally, war is declared and a conflagration occurs complete with dive-bombing T's, marching D's, spear-tossing J's, and paratrooper U's. Amid the fighting, a scrawling, formless chaos appears. Individually, the letters cannot halt the scratching threat of disaster, but when they cooperate and form actual words, the jumbled scrawl at last rolls out of town. This is a stilted attempt to teach about vowels and consonants through adult humor. Shaping actual letters into characters with spindly arms and legs and headless faces is too cute, and the story line falls flat. The colorful, busy watercolor illustrations do little to pick up the story. There is a condescending tone that children will see through, and they'll find little to enjoy in this obvious grammar lesson. This book is too clever for words, and an unnecessary offering.--Beth Tegart, Oneida City Schools, NY