Learning | The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus

How many of you have enjoyed flipping through Roget's Thesaurus, looking for random groups of synonyms?  I think most of us used it for schoolwork, when looking for the right word to describe something, or trying not to use the same word over and over again in an essay. But I loved picking up the book and learning more about words and their relationships to other words. 

A 2015 Caldecott Honor book presents a similar pleasure, in the form of a children's picture book about the life of Peter Mark Roget.  

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet is a visual treasure trove of lists, synonyms, and facts.  It tells the tale of a shy young boy who loved to make lists.  Some of those lists turned into a book that most of us remember from our school days, Roget's Thesaurus. 

The The Right Word's pages are illustrated with watercolor, collage, and mixed media. They effectively draw the reader in, to explore, discover, and become inspired. This is clearly a book that holds interest, even after repeated readings. I saw one review that compared reading The Right Word to looking through an old curio cabinet!

The publisher of this book, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, has a delightful video trailer for The Right Word on its YouTube Channel.  

Ms. Suzy Reads | Sam, Bangs & Moonshine

"Moonshine is flummadiddle. Real is the opposite." So explains Bangs, the cat, to Sam, short for Samantha, in the timeless treasure Sam, Bangs & Moonshine by Evaline Ness.

Samantha, or rather Sam, has a problem telling the difference between what is real and what is not. She claims to have a mermaid for a mother, a fierce lion, a baby kangaroo and a talking cat. Sam's father admonishes her to tell the truth: "Today, for a change, talk real, not moonshine. Moonshine spells trouble."

And trouble might be just what Sam gets when she sends her friend Thomas to Blue Rock where she claims her baby kangaroo has gone. Thomas dutifully follows instructions, but then a sudden storm threatens everything.

I won't say anymore, except that this is a beautiful little story that gently teaches the reason why truth is better than falsehood. It's appropriate for a family reading time, or for an independent reader to read on his own.  

This book was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1967. The Caldecott Medal is presented annually to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. Click here for a list of Caldecott Medal winners over the years. SSJCPL branches own most of these distinguished books; check them out and share them with your family!

4 Kids | And the Oscar Goes To...

Ok, not the Oscar, but yesterday, the American Library Association did announce several awards I just have to talk about! Admittedly, we library types get a little over-excited about these awards. But when I heard two of the winners, I simply had to write about them.

First of all, the Caldecott Award. This is awarded each year to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. (It's like Best Actor Award at the Academy Awards.) This year -- drum roll, please -- the award goes to Jon Klassen for his book This is Not My Hat. You may recall I was singing the praises of this great picture book not too very long ago in this very blog! So I guess that means I picked the winner! 

And if you missed my praise earlier, I will repeat. This is a GREAT book! Aside from its good moral about how it's wrong to steal, the pictures really, really help tell the story. In fact, the reader who is paying attention will know more about what's going on in the story than the poor little narrator. Well, perhaps the "poor little narrator" doesn't deserve all our sympathy.

It's a great book....great for all ages....and my hat's off to Jon Klassen for being awarded this very prestigious honor!

And the other big award yesterday was the Newbery Award. Now this goes to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. And this year, the Newbery goes to The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. This is one of the most beautiful stories I've ever read. It's told from the point of view of Ivan, a gorilla at a run-down mall circus. He's funny, very smart, and really, really knows the value of true friendship. Full disclosure: this one might make you tear up just a little. But it's ok. You'll come away feeling pretty darn good.

And just so you know, SSJCPL will be buying lots of copies of this great book very soon, so stay tuned!

That's all for today. Happy Reading to you all!