Milo's Birthday Surprise takes children on a journey through the letters of the alphabet highlighting the sound of each letter. Becoming aware of the link between sounds and letters is the first step in learning to read. Each of Milo the monkey's animal friends has an alliterative name and verb. For example: Sally the snake is skateboarding; Harry the hippopotamus is hiking; Eddy the elephant is exercising. Each character provides a range of words to talk about with children while making it easy to highlight the sound of the letter.