Susan Harris is an alphabet expert.
The former teacher turned prolific author from Melville has crafted several books focused on the ABCs. She’s poured over the letters, finding the best words for children to learn about.
“Words have to be phonetically correct,” she said. “I try to be very consistent.”
Harris wants to educate children while entertaining them. She is promoting two alphabet books she wrote last year for the Christmas season. They’re designed to reach across faiths and beliefs during the holidays.
“I realized that there was a dichotomy between Santa and Jesus,” she said. “I wanted to create something so that everyone would be included in Christmas.”
Harris wrote “Christmas A to Z” and “An Alphabet of the the First Christmas.” Each book tackles Christmas themes and topics through the alphabet, but through different perspectives.
“Christmas A to Z” addresses secular Christmas practices and ideas, while “An Alphabet for the First Christmas” focuses on Christian traditions during the December holiday.
“It was a challenge,” Harris said. “There’s actually only one word that overlaps in each book and it is ‘Xmas.’”
Harris began working on the books in November 2015. She didn’t breeze through the alphabet like most people do; she had to consider all of her word choices.
“It forces me to think,” she said. “It probably took me eight weeks, but it was spread over a year because I gave it thought.”
Harris filled the books with simple words such as “advent” along with more complicated ones like “frankincense.” Photos accompany each word.
“You can begin to talk about colours and shapes [with a child],” she said. “I write books that children can grow into.”
Harris doesn’t followed the “leveled reading” system, which bases the difficulty of a book on a child’s age. Harris’ books aim to be accessible for a wide range of kids.
“I find that the leveled readers are too limiting,” she said. “My books diverge from the routine.”
Harris’ alphabet books have been read in dozens of classrooms.
“Teachers and schools love my books,” she said. “They trust what I do, having been a teacher in the system.”
Harris’ next writing project will be quite a departure from her ABCs literature. She’s working on a non-fiction piece about near-death experiences, something she’s encountered herself.
“It’s happened to me three times,” she said. “To talk about my illnesses...it’s sacred ground.
“It was a very big decision.”
When it comes to her alphabet books, Harris wants to spark children’s curiosity.
“I hope to inspire [kids] to become educators,” she said. “Education is about learning new things.
“It’s critical to our development.”
