The Very Inappropriate Word
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Michael loves interesting words (hard words like ELASTIC, little words like VAST, and big words like SMITHEREENS) and is always on the lookout for words to collect. Then one day, he picks up a new word. A bad word. An inappropriate word. At least, that's what his friend says. But Michael kind of likes the word. He thinks he might try it out.
At school.
Bad idea.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Michael is a budding logophile: "He picked up new words at practice and downtown and even in school, where Mrs. Dixon gave the kids one new spelling word every day." But when Michael picks up an "inappropriate" word (albeit one that grownups use with impunity) on the school bus, he can't resist helping it go viral ("Michael could see there was something kind of bad about it. But there was also something about it that he kind of liked"). This is Tobin and Coverly's second collaboration, after Sue MacDonald Had a Book, and they prove once again that a low-key reportorial style and perpetually surprised looking characters are a great combination. Readers (and teachers) will especially like Coverly's portrayal of the words as cleverly literal word balloons that Michael stashes under his bed (a "smithereens" bubble crumbles; "fling" resembles a Frisbee) or, in the case of the noxious green grawlix-filled bubble, surreptitiously shares under the playground slide. Best of all, Mrs. Dixon doesn't quash Michael's interest in vocabulary, instead subtly encouraging him to look past "bad" words to far more interesting ones. Ages 5 9.
