Today’s teachers often look carefully for books that excite their students about reading and writing, and help them see that it can be fun to play with words, whether that word play comes in the form of tongue twisters, puns, homophones or even an invented form of poetry. Cracking the alphabetic code provides entrée into a word-filled world, and through the use of mentor texts such as the ones listed below, young readers may learn to relish playing with words almost as much as playing with their computer games. The following reviews of recent books filled with word play were written by members of the Children’s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group.
GRADES 1-4
Cleary, Brian P. (2011). Six sheep sip thick shakes: And other tricky tongue twisters. Minneapolis, MN: Milbrook Press/Lerner.
Clearly a lover of words, Cleary serves up a heaping helping of 23 tongue twisters that are sure to have readers gasping for breath and forced to rely on outside help in untangling their tongues. This book is filled with unexpectedly strenuous exercises for the tongue as Cleary cleverly plays with language in his usual delightful way. Although the artwork is interesting as well, one of the most appealing elements of this picture book is the author’s suggestions about how to write your own tongue twisters. The information about how tongue twisters are created and why certain words, phrases or letters put together in certain patterns are hard to pronounce is enlightening. This book has great appeal for young readers and will provide more than a few minutes of fun for young and old, possibly prompting the recollection of some old favorite tongue twisters. It is likely that this book will inspire a few more tongues to get tangled as readers try to wrap their mouths around phrases that are almost impossible to pronounce together. Naysayers should try to pronounce the book’s title quickly, and see for themselves just how haltingly the simple phrases fall from the tongue. The vibrant illustrations will amuse readers, sometimes providing clues about how to pronounce the tongue twisters efficiently, but not always.
Barbara A. Ward
Washington State University Pullman
Raczka, Bob. (2011). Fall mixed up. Illus. by Chad Cameron. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books/Lerner.
As autumn comes to an end, this picture book might provide an amusing way to say farewell to the season while encouraging readers to be attentive to detail. But the fall described in the text is somewhat surreal as leaves float into the sky rather than sifting gently from the trees, and youngsters chomp into delicious caramel-covered pumpkins instead of apples. Ouch! The author cleverly mixes the expected with the unexpected so that bears clamor onto tree limbs to gather nuts for the winter instead of hibernating. Under the ground, geese nestle in hibernation, ostensibly taking the place of those large, furry mammals. Readers will enjoy spotting what is not right in the pictures and the mixed-up verses. Readers will laugh with glee at the illustration of a scarecrow keeping watch over rows of candy corn and wince at the description and picture of children frolicking in “heaping piles of sticks” (unpaginated) rather than fall foliage.
Barbara A. Ward
Washington State University Pullman
Banks, Kate. (2011). Max’s castle. Illus. by Boris Kulikov. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.
As they grow older, all children neglect and/or forget about some of the toys that once were their favorites. In this picture book Max looks under his bed and finds a box of ABC blocks, a dinosaur skeleton and other toys that he hasn’t played with in a long time. He then decides to make a castle using these toys, spelling out words such as WALLS, HALLS and ROOM. Soon Max’s brothers are playing with him and creating an imaginary adventure in which each boy has his own room in the castle with some of the forgotten toys. When Max constructs a MOAT around the castle, his brothers exclaim that they need a BOAT. Later, one of the brothers says, “This castle needs a king,” and Max replies, “I’m the KING.” Each word is revealed through the ABC blocks used in the illustrations. Together, the brothers create an exciting journey with pirates, knights, a dungeon and a dragon. Primary teachers could read aloud this picture book and then provide a box of blocks for children to spell out their own stories.
Deanna Day
Washington State University Vancouver
Lichtenheld, Tom, & Fields-Meyer, Ezra. (2011). E-mergency! Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle.
Filled with pun after pun, this deliciously delightful book has enough clever word play and visuals to brighten a bleak winter morning. Readers will laugh and want to share some of the lines with others. The 26 letters of the alphabet live together in one house, where they have different responsibilities. When the always reckless E is injured while rushing down the stairs, the other letters must take his place. As they fill in, coming together in several unexpected letter combinations, there are several confusing and amusing results, and words just aren’t what they used to be without E. Who knew that E was so essential to communication? Since O is called upon to fill E's place, many confusing words are created, and everyone except the narrator stops using the letter E. The authors capture the personality of many of the letters quite well: Z is always sleepy; X always marks the spot; Q and U always appear together. Back matter includes a list that indicates how often each letter is used in the English language, something students will enjoy knowing. One of my favorite lines involves E's failure to cry even while hurt. Says O, "Sometimes she's a silent E" (unpaginated). The ink, pastels, and colored pencil illustrations add to the fun and the letters' personalities. The entire book is exceedingly clever and particularly punny. The hidden puns on each page are sure to appeal, and even the book jacket shows E declaring that this is “an E-book!”
Barbara A. Ward
Washington State University Pullman
GRADES 5-6
Katz, Alan. (2011). Poems I wrote when no one was looking. Illus. by Edward Koren. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books.
Alan Katz’s newest book is just plain fun … for all ages! Following the success of his first book of poetry, Oops! (Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster, 2008), this new collection offers one hundred original poems that deal with subjects from pizza to pasta to popcorn, from computers to homework to inventions. For example, the poem “How Inventive!” consisting of opening lines goes like this:
“My name is Albert Feinstein
I’m here with Thomas Pedison.
We’ll meet with Jonas Salkenbaum,
Who’s working on some medicine” (p. 54).
As children enjoy these poems and add them to the Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky shelves of humorous poetry, this collection begs to be to read aloud or used with group reading, choral reading and performance poetry. Ed Koren’s cross-hatched drawings are the perfect complement to add surprise and delight to the meanings of each poem. The poems are almost contagious because it is just about impossible to stop reading them in order to enjoy the wordplay each poem and sketch presents. Other themes found throughout the book include families, sports, and food. A likely favorite is this pithy poem, “In My Opinion,” written by an opinionated person. It begins,
“Baby sister’s hair: shampooable
Mom’s library book: renewable
Dad’s morning coffee: brewable
Little sister’s vitamin: chewable
Me finishing my homework: undoable” (p. 5).
The first line and title indexes make this a very user and teacher-friendly collection. In addition to the author’s website found at http://www.alankatzbooks.com, Katz has developed a website called “Help the Poemless” (www.helpthepoemless.org). Bringing poetry into the lives of children and adults, this website offers a mailing list, several videos, and future poetry activities. As the holidays approach, young readers might also enjoy his 2005 collection entitled Where Did They Hide My Presents? Silly Dilly Christmas Songs (Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster).
Poem aficionados will enjoy watching the author video available at his publisher’s website:
http://books.simonandschuster.ca/Poems-I-Wrote-When-No-One-Was-Looking/Alan-Katz/9781416935186
Karen Hildebrand
Ohio Library and Reading Consultant
Perl, Erica S. (2011). Chicken butt’s back! Illus. by Henry Cole. New York: Abrams.
From the author and illustrator of Chicken Butt! (Abrams, 2009) comes the hilarious sequel Chicken Butt’s Back! In this clever two-voice story, a mother and son visit a grocery store. Each character’s voice appears in a different font type and color, inviting children to read along while laughing at the puns, and then reading them again—and again. Children will learn about homophones and homonyms through this jokester son and his animal friends. When Mom says, “I’ll make this crystal clear: No more ‘Chicken Butt!’ my dear,” the son exclaims, “Your deer?” The illustrations then depict a large deer hiding behind a display of maple syrup. The verbal word game is on with “dear” being exchanged for “deer,” “but” for “butt,” “bear” for “bare” and “under where” for “underwear.” Henry Cole’s comic illustrations make this wordplay tale even more fun. The “poop or fart” escapades may not be for every teacher, yet most children will be rolling on the floor and requesting more. What’s more: This book is guaranteed to be read numerous times, and the puns will be told and retold, maybe even prompting an original one to be punned—er, penned—in your classroom.
Deanna Day
Washington State University Vancouver
Raczka, Bob. (2011). Lemonade: And other poems squeezed from a single word. Illus. by Nancy Doniger. New York: Roaring Brook Press.
The author takes the letters from one word and rearranges them to create poems in this cleverly imagined take on word play. Thus, from ladybug, for example, you might get
“a
buggy
buddy
a
glad
gal” (p. 20).
The 22 poems are interesting to read and are likely to prompt some young poets to try their hands at this sort of poetry. The topics range from commonplace topics for poetic inspiration such as flowers and spring to less common topics such as television and constellation. Because the placement of letters and spacing is so important for this unique form of poetry, the poems must be seen to be appreciated fully. One of my favorites is squeezed from the word “spaghetti” and describes someone with a hearty appetite for heaping helpings of the sticky noodles.
Barbara A. Ward
Washington State University Pullman
Book Reviews: The Rest of the Story
Animals! Book Review Series
Young Adult Book Review: The Name of the Star
International Reading Association (IRA) Children’s Literature and Reading Special Interest Group (CL/R SIG)
IRA Special Interest Group Network on Adolescent Literature (SIGNAL)