The Great Dictionary Caper
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“Teachers will have field day with this wordplay; this caper is clever, capricious, and cunning.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Bored with sitting in a dictionary ‘day in, day out,’ the words make a break for it and organize a parade which…introduce linguistics terminology in just about the most playful way possible.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“This is a charming, peppy introduction, enhanced by Comstock’s energetic, retro-flair illustrations, which fill the pages with cavorting words and creative details…In approach and format, this is both entertaining and educational—likely to hold and pique kids’ interest in the topic and provide a fun learning supplement.” —Booklist (starred review)
When all of the words escape from the dictionary, it’s up to Noah Webster to restore alphabetical order in this supremely wacky picture book that celebrates language.
Words have secret lives. On a quiet afternoon the words escape the dictionary (much to the consternation of Mr. Noah Webster) and flock to Hollywood for a huge annual event—Lexi-Con. Liberated from the pages, words get together with friends and relations in groups including an onomatopoeia marching band, the palindrome family reunion, and hide-and-seek antonyms. It’s all great fun until the words disagree and begin to fall apart. Can Noah Webster step in to restore order before the dictionary is disorganized forever?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bored with sitting in a dictionary "day in, day out," the words make a break for it and organize a parade which lets Sierra (Wild About You!) and Comstock (the Charlie Piechart series) introduce linguistics terminology in just about the most playful way possible. Onomatopoeic terms form a marching band (the c and g in "clang" turn into arms that crash cymbals together). The action verbs are appropriately kinetic "somersault" turns itself into one but the "no-action contractions," in phrases like "He couldn't" and "She won't," need some nudging. Homophones march "two by two and three by three," depending on the sound. It's all lexicographical fun and games, but eventually Noah Webster himself herds the words back between the dictionary covers. Working in a limited palette of orange, olive, and pale blue, Comstock brings the words to vivid anthropomorphic life while visually underscoring each concept (the letters in "please" gaze at readers through eager, beseeching eyes eyes that close tight after the letters rearrange themselves into their anagram, "asleep"). It's the very definition of wordplay. Ages 4 8. Illustrator's)
