The A to Z of Everyday Things.

Anne Hutchings is a public-school teacher and librarian in Ajax,
Ontario.

This highly entertaining and informative, though unusual, alphabet book is packed with interesting facts and trivia about “everyday things.” Beginning with A for alphabet, B for black, and C for calendars, right up to X for Xeroxing, Y for yawning, and Z for zero, each of the 26 short chapters (none more than six pages long) features a topic beginning with a specific letter of the alphabet. Yet each chapter goes far beyond the scope suggested by its title. For example, “Xeroxing” includes a brief history of books from the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages to Gutenberg’s invention of movable type and the printing press. Similarly, in the chapter entitled “Sideburns” we are introduced to the term eponym and meet a number of people such as John Montague, the Earl of Sandwich, Amelia Bloomer, and Dr. Joseph Guillotin, who gave their names to items with which we are all familiar.

Readers will shudder at the ancient recipe for lipstick, which consisted of iron ore, lead, sediment of red wine, bodies of dead insects, and even a plant dye called fucus, which was, in fact a deadly poison. They will undoubtedly chuckle at the 1915 Kansas law which outlawed the wearing of lipstick for women under the age of 44. In “Tulips,” the author’s account of the bizarre “tulipomania” which gripped Holland in the 1630s will have many shaking their heads in disbelief.

Francis Blake’s gray-tone cartoons are humorous and add to the enjoyment of the book. Small, dark sidebars further entice readers with trivia. Victorian women, for example, might well wear up to 12 different kinds of underwear at one time.

Read in part or in its entirety, The A to Z of Everyday Things makes fascinating reading for intermediate, senior, and even adult audiences. Highly recommended.