The Boy Who Loved Words

And so he begins to sprinkle , disburse , and broadcast them to people in need. Grade Schotter blends magical realism with a tongue-tingling narrative to create an ode to the power and purpose of language.

Selig is passionate about words-their sounds tintinnabulating! An avid word-hoarder, he delights in discovering new terms, recording them on paper scraps, and stowing them in pockets. Unable to comprehend their son's strange predilection, his practical-minded parents worry about his future, and his classmates cruelly add oddball to his collection. After dreaming about a Yiddish Genie who advises him to embrace his passion and seek his life's poipose, Selig embarks on a journey of self-discovery.

Feeling weighted down by his vocabulary slips, he climbs a tree and carefully attaches them to the branches. Fantastically and fittingly, several of them blow into the hands of a poet who is struggling for the right adjectives to finish his verse. Selig realizes that his mission is to bestow his word wealth upon others. He tosses out luscious to accentuate a baker's wares, halts an argument with harmony, and invigorates an elderly man with spry.

He grows up to find personal fulfillment and even true love. The author shares her own affection for language through the descriptive, lyrical text, italicizing particularly delectable but possibly unfamiliar terms and defining them in a two-page glossary. Potter's folk-art paintings echo the story's whimsy and set the action in an idyllic-looking, earlyth-century past. An inspiring choice for young wordsmiths and anyone who cherishes the variety and vitality of language.

Some people collect shells or stones; young Selig collects words. Whenever he hears a new one he likes, he jots it down on a slip of paper and stuffs it into a convenient pocket, a sock, a sleeve, or a hat. When you're a kid, such eccentric behavior doesn't go unnoticed, and soon his classmates have given him a new name, "Wordsworth," and a new word to add to his collection, oddball. But with the help of a friendly genie, who calls him "Voidsvoith, a lover of voids," Selig finds his life's purpose and romance, to boot. Potter's signature naive-style art is light and comical, while Schotter's words are a lovely celebration of the power and the music of language.

A glossary of Selig's favorite words--from aflutter to windmill-- adorns the book's endpapers. Would you like to tell us about a lower price?

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Buy the selected items together This item: Ships from and sold by Amazon. Customers who bought this item also bought. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1. A True Story from Afghanistan. My Librarian is a Camel: Waiting for the Biblioburro. Here's how restrictions apply. From School Library Journal Grade Schotter blends magical realism with a tongue-tingling narrative to create an ode to the power and purpose of language. Product details Age Range: Preschool - 3 Lexile Measure: Don't have a Kindle? Our favorite toys for everyone on your list Shop now.

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Teaches kids new words- some I need to look up before I read the book to him! They can include definitions, pictures, synonyms, or antonyms. Students can then use this journal as a reference guide when writing or editing their own stories. Tell students that you are going to read the story again and ask them to select a few of their favorite words from the story. Write these words on the board or on chart paper and have students brainstorm as many new words as they can that have the same meaning.

Discuss how students can use a thesaurus to expand their lists.

These new words can be used in editing some of their own writing pieces. Discuss how certain words are stronger or more descriptive, much like the words Selig uses. Have students brainstorm some words that are less descriptive, such as nice, good, happy. Display each of these plain word options on a tombstone to create a graveyard of words to be put to rest, then create a bed of flowers and write new exciting words on the flower petals to show growth in the new word choices. Students can refer to the words on the flowers whenever they get stumped thinking of a new word.

Reread the passage and ask students if they notice a difference in the story.

Have students help edit the passage by adding vivid and exciting words to make the story come to life again. Compare these editing exercises to the editing you would like them to do in their own writing. Ask students to consult the word tree if they need help finding new descriptive words for their revisions.

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Invite students to create posters displaying their favorite foods to share with classmates. Make sure they include descriptive words on their posters to label each food. Selig enjoys the outdoors. In a journal, ask students to list as many words as they can to describe the surrounding area. Ask students if the setting in The Boy Who Loved Words is similar or different than their own neighborhood.

Compare the different areas. ART —After reading the story, ask students to draw their own illustrations, either based on the story or on their own choice of subject. Then they can then write their own stories based on their new illustrations. Discuss how literature, poetry, and music are similar.