3 to 6, the years children learn their letters in preschool and kindergarten. It is a story you read aloud, with short lines on every page, and your child does the catching.

No. It is a 48 page bedtime picture book. Every letter page has the small letter and its capital to trace with a finger, on the printed page. When your child is ready for a pencil, there are free sheets to print for every letter on our alphabet page.

Which letter shapes does it teach?

Plain upright print, the style most schools in the United States teach first: round letters and straight lines that do not join up, with the small a and g in one round part, as children write them. A green dot shows where to start, numbers say which line comes first, and arrows show the way. If your child's school uses a different style, follow the school.

Small letters or capitals?

Both, small letters first. Most of the letters a child reads are small ones, so the story is about them, and the capital stands next to each one on its page. The whole alphabet, small and capital, is on the page after the story.

Is it calm enough for bedtime?

That is what it is for. Soft ink and watercolor pictures, short read-aloud lines, a few big sound words to say together, and it ends with the house asleep and a good night. Read it all at once, or catch a few letters each night.

Do we need a phone or tablet?

Not to read it or to trace: the book works without one. The QR codes open in the camera of any recent Android or Apple phone or tablet. The letter writes itself in the browser, and it steps into your room on an iPhone, an iPad, or an Android phone or tablet with ARCore. There is no app to install and no account to make.

Is anything about my child kept or sent?

The letter codes ask for nothing: no account, no name, no email. The secret on the last page asks a grown-up for the child's first name and an email address. We use the name to make the name in 3D and to write the email, and we do not keep it.

For a 3 to 5 year old starting on letters, yes: a paperback bedtime story with 26 letters to catch, $14.99 on Amazon, and at the end a line where the child writes their own name.

Catch the Letters! front cover: a child reading in bed from behind, and letters with eyes flying out of the book — Front cover

A bedtime alphabet book by Katia Sunn

Catch the Letters!A bedtime alphabet book with letter tracing

Name: Catch the Letters!
Price: 14.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Katia Sunn
ISBN: 979-8160612768

Twenty-six little letters have run away at bedtime. Your child catches each one by tracing it with a finger.

26 letters to find and trace
Small letters and capitals, with start dots
Each letter writes itself in 3D

Ages: 3 to 6
Pages: 48
Format: Paperback · 8.5 × 8.5 in

Buy on Amazon · $14.99Watch a letter write itself Look inside

The trailer · 1:54

Twenty-six little letters have run away!

A short film made from the book's own pictures: the bedtime story, the letters that tiptoe away, and how a child catches one. The letters are the same 3D letters that write themselves when you scan a letter page.

Turn the sound on and watch it together. Captions are in the player.

The story

Twenty-six little letters have run away.

It's bedtime. The bath is done, the curtains are closed, and your child climbs into bed and opens their favorite book. But the pages are empty. The letters have tiptoed off the end of the bed to play hide-and-seek all over the house.

They still know their order, so the search goes from a all the way to z. And every letter hides in something that starts with its sound: a tumbles out of the apple bowl, b bounces on the biggest bubble in the bath, and q lies very still under the quilt.

Nobody in the story has a name, and the child in the pictures is only ever seen from behind, so every child can be the one in the bed. It ends where every story begins: “Once upon a time, there was a child named...”, with a line for your child to write their own name.

From the back cover

Twenty-six little letters have run away!

It's bedtime. You open your favorite book... but the pages are empty! The letters have tiptoed off your bed to play hide-and-seek all over the house. Every letter hides in something that starts with its sound. Can you catch them all before you fall asleep?

Katia Sunn

Where they hide

Every letter hides in a thing that starts with its sound.

And so on, all the way to y. And z? z is the hardest one of all to find. That one stays in the book.

How to catch a letter

You don't just point. You have to catch it.

Finger on the green dotEvery letter has a road to trace, with a green dot where it starts.
Follow the arrowsNumbers say which line comes first, and arrows show the way, the same way your child will write it later.
Shout: Got you!“Got you, little a!” Then the letter goes back into the book, and the alphabet strip at the foot of the page fills up with color.

Finger first, pencil later: tracing with a finger builds the movement before a pencil comes in. Every page shows the small letter and its capital, in plain upright print.

Inside Catch the Letters!: the page How to catch a letter, and a road to trace with a finger

And then the letter writes itself

Scan the page, and the letter comes into your room.

Every letter page has a QR code. Scan it with a phone or tablet camera and that letter writes itself in 3D, slowly, starting from the green dot, the same way your child traced it.

Tap the AR button and the letter steps off the screen and stands in your room. One more tap shows its capital. No app to install, no account.

This is a, the first letter in the book. Press Slowly and follow it with a finger.

Loading the letter…

Psst! One more secret, on the last page.

Your child's own name, in the same letters, writing itself and coming into your room. A grown-up types the name and an email address, and the link arrives by email. The way in is printed in the book.

Look inside

Four double pages from the book.

Real pages from the book. Every letter page has a code in its corner that opens its letter in 3D. We covered it here: scan it in the book.

Bedtime. The bath is done, and the book is open.
How to catch a letter, and a road to try it first.
a tumbles out of the apple bowl. b bounces in the bath.
k kicks inside the kettle. l leans against the lamp.

Buy on Amazon · $14.99Paperback, 48 pages, 8.5 by 8.5 inches, full color.

When the pencil comes in

Free sheets for every letter, from the same letters.

The sheets on our alphabet pages are drawn from the book's own letters, with the same green dots and arrows: a tracing worksheet for every letter, capital and small, an ABC chart, an A to Z tracing booklet and coloring pages. Free to print, US Letter or A4, no sign-up.

Alphabet sheets, a to z Name tracing maker

Before you choose

Is it the right alphabet book for your child?

What parents ask, answered straight. Anything else? Write to us, one of us answers.

What age is it for?: 3 to 6, the years children learn their letters in preschool and kindergarten. It is a story you read aloud, with short lines on every page, and your child does the catching.
Is it a workbook?: No. It is a 48 page bedtime picture book. Every letter page has the small letter and its capital to trace with a finger, on the printed page. When your child is ready for a pencil, there are free sheets to print for every letter.
Which letter shapes does it teach?: Plain upright print, the style most schools in the United States teach first: round letters and straight lines that do not join up, with the small a and g in one round part, as children write them. A green dot shows where to start, numbers say which line comes first, and arrows show the way. If your child's school uses a different style, follow the school.
Small letters or capitals?: Both, small letters first. Most of the letters a child reads are small ones, so the story is about them, and the capital stands next to each one on its page. The whole alphabet, small and capital, is on the page after the story.
Is it calm enough for bedtime?: That is what it is for. Soft ink and watercolor pictures, short read-aloud lines, a few big sound words to say together, and it ends with the house asleep and a good night. Read it all at once, or catch a few letters each night.
Do we need a phone or tablet?: Not to read it or to trace: the book works without one. The QR codes open in the camera of any recent Android or Apple phone or tablet. The letter writes itself in the browser, and it steps into your room on an iPhone, an iPad, or an Android phone or tablet with ARCore. There is no app to install and no account to make.
Is anything about my child kept or sent?: The letter codes ask for nothing: no account, no name, no email. The secret on the last page asks a grown-up for the child's first name and an email address. We use the name to make the name in 3D and to write the email, and we do not keep it (see our privacy page).
Is it a good gift?: For a 3 to 5 year old starting on letters, yes: a paperback bedtime story with 26 letters to catch, $14.99 on Amazon, and at the end a line where the child writes their own name.

Not sure it's the one? We keep a list of alphabet books for ages 3 to 6, other publishers' books included: calm ones for bedtime, classics to chant along to, letters to find in the pictures and funny ones for children who already know their ABCs, with how lively each one is.