The Hardest Working Letter: The Many Jobs of Silent E

by Erin Morrison • 2023

Who is the hardest working letter around? The Silent E, of course! In this book, readers are introduced to the many jobs of the Silent E, including: To make vowels say their long sound (pine, lake) To protect the letters i, u, v, or j from being at the end of a word (pie, true) To ensure that the consonant + le syllable has a vowel (table, bundle) To soften the sounds of c and g (lace, age) To show that a word isn't plural (dense, tease) To make the TH say its voiced sound (bathe, teethe) To clarify the meaning of words that sound the same (by, bye) To show the history of a word (come, done) With playful illustrations depicting the Silent E in different jobs, this book is sure to both delight and teach growing readers! By explicitly teaching the jobs of the Silent E, we can let children in on the "secrets" of the English language rather than allowing the logical reasoning to remain a mystery.