Do You Have King Alfred in a Can?



Excuse me, but do you have Prince Albert in a can?

You do?

Well, you'd better let him out or he might suffocate!

I actually thought of that old joke when I first heard the title of a possible book that I might review for the TOS Review Crew. However, when I received my copy of King Alfred's English by Laurie J. White I found out that there was a lot packed in to this little can of a book! (Don't ask me why I thought of Prince Albert when the name of the book is "KING ALFRED's English", but that's just the way my mind works sometimes!)

I have never been much of an English Grammar person. Oh, I enjoy dabbling into other languages, and trying to learn them, but I don't much like studying the English language. Most of you know, though, that I love to read and I love history, so when I found what the full name of this book was - King Alfred's English - A History of the Language We Speak And Why We Should Be Glad We Do, I became a little more interested.

Really, though, what could be interesting about the English language? And, furthermore, what could be interesting about the HISTORY  of the English language? I mean, the history of countries and of people are interesting, but a LANGUAGE? I mean...really...this is doomed to be one of those "good for nights when you have insomnia" books...isn't it?

Not in the least! Without revealing too much of what is in the book, let me "whet your appetite" by asking a few questions:

• Did you know that English was not the original language spoken by the inhabitants of England?
• Is "xmas" really a bad thing to write at Christmas time? (I found the answer to that very enlightening)
• What does Germany have to do with our language?
• Why do some people call England - England and others call it Britain?
• Was St. Patrick a real person and what did he have to do with our language?

Those are all questions that will be answered in just Part I of this book! There are several such "parts" to the book - King Alfred's English and I love how easy they are to read. Each Part to the book is divided into several chapters and each chapter has bite sized fascinating stories. You might think that this sounds disjointed, but, actually, everything flows together so well, and connects that you might find it hard to locate a good place to put the book down for the night. That is, if you actually want to put it down at all! It's that good. I'm not even going to mention the other great info in the book. Like:

• What the Vikings have to do with our word "berserk". Or,
• What Shakespeare has to do with he book of Psalm in the Bible! Or even, heaven forbid,
• Our Pagan Days!

Now, when I first signed up for possibly reviewing this book the interest form said that kids didn't necessarily have to review it, that adults could review it as well. I didn't think John Allen would be interested, so I thought I would just read it myself. After all, I was looking for some good summer reading. I have, since then, changed my mind. I think John Allen would be fascinated with much of this book and we could count it for both history and language arts. I mean, what teenage boy doesn't like to read about adventure and inventors and exciting historical figures? People such as:

• King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
• William the Conqueror
• Johannes Gutenberg
• Marin Luther - And even...
• Bert and Bertha (Yes, I said Bert and Bertha!)

Yes, all of those people have something to do with our English language and the author, Laurie J. White, in King Alfred's English makes learning about all of them fun and fascinating.

So, how much does Sir Alfred's English cost and where can you find it? Well, you can find it on Amazon or other online book sellers. The cheapest price can be found at Christian Book Distributors for $14.89. (Quick! If you read my next post which I'll write later today, you can find that Laurie J. White has given five of my blessed readers the chance to purchase King Alfred's English at a much cheaper price!) Just click here or on any on of the links above to find out more about Laurie J. White, King Alfred's English, and some of the other fascinating books that I, now, can't wait to read! You really won't be disappointed. It really is a fun read. Happy Homeschooling.

Many other folks on the TOS Review Crew reviewed King Alfred's English and you can find what they had to say by clicking here.

Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Review Crew I was sent a free download of King Alfred's English in order to read and give my honest review on this blog.