4 out of 4 stars
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What happens when you have too many words, but you’re too shy to share them? Priscilla the ostrich faces this exact dilemma in Evelyn Dunbar Webb’s The Word Collector. This educational picture book is intended to teach kids aged six to nine about different types of words (nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives) through Priscilla’s story. Priscilla writes down every new word she comes across, but she won’t use them – not even to speak! Will she ever learn to share the words she loves?
The pictures in this book were the first things to jump out at me. Matt Tyree’s illustrations are nothing short of adorable. All the characters in this book are birds, from penguins to quail to ibises, and they’re all drawn in a sweet cartoony style that’s sure to delight little kids.
The attention to detail is wonderful. In particular, I got a huge kick out of a portrait in the background of one scene that featured George Washington reimagined as a bald eagle! In addition, the lists of words Priscilla finds are not typed, but handwritten in a neat but natural script – a cute detail that adds a lot of visual interest to the pages.
The writing is simple and age-appropriate, though Priscilla’s handwritten words will definitely stretch the vocabulary of young readers. Words like ‘leprechaun’ and ‘legendary’ may lead to some trips to the dictionary. However, this higher-level vocabulary doesn’t impede understanding of the story at all, and I think confident readers could easily tackle this book on their own.
The best thing about this book, in my opinion, is the educational value. Not only will kids learn new vocabulary, but they’ll get a feel for different parts of speech through examples and repetition. Priscilla’s word lists are not random, but thematically related to what she’s doing at different points in the story. When she’s at the grocery store, she finds words like ‘bread,’ ‘bake,’ ‘carefully,’ and ‘sweet.’ It would be easy to encourage kids to join these related words together into sentences – a great classroom or homeschool activity.
There’s also a nice lesson about friendship and creativity towards the end of the book, when Priscilla receives encouragement to share the words she’s been holding in. She may inspire young readers to start collecting and sharing words of their own!
Overall, I was very pleased with this book. The illustrations are beautiful, the writing is age-appropriate, the educational value is huge, and the lessons are lovely. I can’t see any room for improvement here, so I’m happy to rate it 4 out of 4 stars. I highly recommend The Word Collector to parents, teachers, homeschoolers, and anyone who wants to inspire a love of words in their children.
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The Word Collector
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