The Weatherbirds are stuck floating on the ocean when a giant white albatross explains, " 'You're in the doldrums, dude! . . . Yar, dudes,' said the albatross, ' down here in the doldrums, the wind doesn't blow, but there's some awesome surfing a few thousand metres up.'" Ted Dewan sprinkles his prose with alliteration--in this case dudes, down, and doldrums--lightening up a book packed with background knowledge about how weather works. The Weatherbirds travel through Europe and Africa on their way to Costa Rica in a hot air balloon. Their journey is a colorful science lesson that includes air pressure, wind, acid rain, cloud formations, snow, a tornado, and much more.
Alliteration is the use of the same consonant at the beginning of each stressed syllable, which is often the first syllable in English. It is a way to play with letter sounds in the first grade. (Durden, p. 135) Alliteration A-Z illustrates alliteration with a page full of tongue twisters.
