Italic Handwriting Series Book A

This is a fabulous series. In most states, teachers have no knowledge of the history of handwring styles and therefore do not know the first thing about teaching letter forms to children. Italic handwriting returns us to the beautiful forms (before loops and joins overtook letters and which lead to confusion and difficulty for children who are forced to learn the degenerate modern "cursive"). This series teaches a natural progression from individual italic letters to the cursive joined letters that can be written ligibly, rapidly and rhythmically. Bravo!!

Italic handwriting is the most traditional style still in use. Originally developed in Italy in the 1500s to be an extremely clear, easy to read and write style, it spread and became a dominant form of handwriting until the 1700s, when the simple, clear style was rejected in favor of elaborate, almost Rococo styles that emphasized elegance over communication and legibility.

The difficulty in reading documents written in the various "loopy cursives," as they are commonly called, was a problem from the beginning, and later systems trying to correct the problem by introducing new ball-and-stick prints and simplifying the loops did little to help.

Fortunately, italic has been rediscovered. It is the style most commonly taught in adult handwriting remediation programs--in hospitals, for instance, where messy handwriting can kill--and it has many advantages over the self-consciously ornate "loopy cursives."

First, it is built upon natural hand motions. No ball-and-stick that, at the best of times, looks juvenile and is exceedingly slow and is usually badly distorted at higher speeds. No more loops flying in ever direction, distorting the shapes of the words. Instead, the entire system is based upon a few, very simple stroke patterns which are combined to form well-shaped and highly legible letter. Second, learning cursive is simply a matter of joining the letter-shapes already learned in standard ways. No spending a year or two of painful memorization and then readjustment. The result is a handwriting style that is easy to learn and easy to read and that looks adult. Why would you teach your child a style of handwriting that looks immature when it is done "right" because it is so unweildy that no mature writer retains it?

The Getty-Dubay Italic series has neatly packaged an italic handwriting style in a way that is very easy to teach and learn. They present the letters in a logical order and provide many tips and pieces of advice broken down in a sensible fashion along the way. Rather than spending hours and hours teaching them a style of handwriting that will, more likely than not, result in a mess and then RETEACHING them again when it comes time to switch to cursive, teach them beautiful, clear handwriting from the start and use the extra time teaching typing or something worth while.

There is no Getty-Dubay font that I know of, but there are two freeware italic fonts, Jarman and Jardotty. Search for them on the web--they are available in several places. I believe that there are two letters that are formed slightly differently than in the Getty-Dubay style.

I lived in Portland, OR, where the authors convinced the school district to test this method in place of older printing and writing curriculum.

About a year after teaching began, I was at a pizza parlor between Portland and a suburban town. There had been a kid's contest or drawing of some sort that required written entry forms, and a large group of winning forms was pinned to a wall. The result of this method was graphically, forcefully and wonderfully on display: all the entrants with Portland addresses (1st and 2nd graders, I think) had filled their blanks with beautifully clear, if tentative, italic printing, while kids from the suburban town had provided the usual near-illegible scrawl. I was astonished.

I can't think of a better, clearer testimony to the practical effect of this method and these books than the entry forms on that wall. If your kids need help with their handwriting, or are interested in improving it, get these books. Even better would be to convince your school district to investigate this method.

And no, italic printing and script WILL NOT strip individuality and "personality" from a kid's writing; it will make it easier to express it.

You should know this about the book. It is for pre-school or kindergarten. It is for printing in italic style. If you want your child to learn "block printing", this is not the book for you. Personally, I think a child should know how to do block printing, sometimes called traditional manuscript. If you buy into this series, you'll want the instruction manual too. If you just want to teach/learn the italic cursive, start with book D in this series. Be warned. If you or your child likes the "loopy" cursive, this is not for you. Italic cursive, starting in book D, does not have loops. It looks a bit different. It is a major alternative to the old fashioned way of doing cursive. Remember those goofy capital "Q"s that looked like a numberal "2"? Italic cursive gives you a Q that looks like a Q, unlike what I saw as a child. I recommend considering this series.

I have tried several writing programs for my daughter. This one beats them all. She enjoys the lessons and they are not so difficult she wants to give up. I plan on using the series until it is complete and find this is well worth the investment.