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My older sisters and mother read to me as a small child but I recall one of my first introductions to the literary world being the Letter People. We  had them in kindergarten, posted on the walls and chalkboard, on xerox copies (yes we called them xeroxes back then) to color and do assignments on, and we had (vinyl) albums of songs to listen to and learn from. At least it caught our attention. We also had them on television. PBS showed the 60 short 15 minute episodes of letters frolicking about, living their lives in Letter People Land. It was a sort of psychedelic place, being the early 70's, with disco, rock, and folksong-like music, happy puppies, wild hair and clothes and rhyming introductions to each letter person. Probably some of it was politically incorrect, but the fact is, those episodes and all of the letter people left a lasting effect on me.

Elayne Reiss-Weimann and Rita Friedman created The Letter People in 1972. Illustrator Elizabeth Callen was hired to design the look of the series and its characters. Each letter of the alphabet was represented by a unique character with traits derived from its letter. Mister H had Horrible Hair, and Mister Mouth liked to Munch, Munch, Munch. Miss O was Obstinate, while Miss I had Itchy Itches. In 1990, Abrams & Co. Publishers Inc.of Waterbury, Connecticut bought the rights to The Letter People from the previous owner, Norwalk, Connecticut-based New Dimensions in Education, Inc. With that came big changes the Letter People Land. The references to junk foods were changed, so that Mister C for Cotton Candy became Mr. C with a Colossal Cap. (They also changed the Mister to Mr. and the Miss to Ms.) Mister D for Delicious Doughnuts became Mr. D for Dazzling Dance.  Characteristics that weren't quite proper were changed too, such as Mister W, who was for Wonderful Winks and a bit flirtatious (he was my favorite) became Mr. W of Wonderful Words. Mister X who was for All Wrong and Mixed-Up, became Mr. X, for Different. Miss O for Obstinate? She became Mr. O for Opposite. Opposite in a few ways it seems, equalling out the male to female ratio, which is now 50/50 whereas back in the 70's it was male dominated. Funny how that was the way.

The Letter People literature was also changed to reflect more politically correct views, and now deals with conflict resolution and problem solving skills. We have come a long way from the 8-track tapes and films strips, vinyl records and xeroxes, Horrible Hair and Obstinate letter O, but I rather like the nostalgic look back to what it was for me. I often have horrible hair and obstinate days and I'm happy enough. The fact is that the Letter People are still being used in pre-schools and kindergarten classrooms today, albeit in their more modern forms.

Is it really a learning tool? Some of the shows dealt with combined letter sounds, such a C and H, O and U and Q and U. Other shows had the letters scrambled and then rushing to place themselves in correct ABC order. As an introduction to literature, it is a beginning. Here's an interesting article on literacy in young children. In my personal experience, it created an interest for me. I wanted to know what these "letter people" were all about, what they could, how I could play with them. I think interest is the first step in learning.

Want to know more? This YouTube video explains it all so well. Can't get enough? Here's a fun quiz to test your memory.