Why are there 40 phonemes in English and only 26 letters? Also, of those 26 letters, some of them duplicate sounds. No wonder everyone is confused about how to spell.
I’m not sure adding letters would have simplified the rules. There’s probably some history behind why we have fewer letters than phonemes.
When we teach children to speak and read, we focus on the letters many times. I see alphabet books with all kinds of themes to check out the letters – just the 26 letters. As I learn more about phonics, I wonder why we can’t stretch those phonics into picture books.
I’ve never written a picture book. I think about it from time to time. (Regular readers might remember that.) Perhaps part of the drawback is that children’s picture books go up to 32 pages? But I’m not sure we need to have only one phoneme per page. On the other hand, maybe that would be best.
It might be a fun summer project for me. Like I need another project! My daughter might appreciate it. It’s definitely something that would be fun to have around here, even if it doesn’t get published.
All it means is I could put lots of large, fun words in there to enrich her vocabulary. Might even throw in pulchritudinous, just for kicks.
She’ll be ready for the SAT before she starts Kindergarten. Ha!
Ransom Noble 
Why not just use the phonemes instead of the letters?
I think that sounds like an awesome project. In the life skills classroom I work in, we do phonics in reading now, and it makes such a big difference in how they read and spell. I’d love to read whatever try you might have at it. I’m wondering if it might be information overload in such a short format, but you never know until you try!
I don’t know if it would be information overload or not. I have random ideas in my head, so what I’m thinking and what you’re thinking might not even be the same. Haha! But definitely will give you a heads-up when it materializes.