Playing with Language

Compiled By Steven Engelfried -- School Library Journal, 6/1/2004

A key part of literacy is the ability to put words together, making sense of the rules and patterns of our complex language. But a true appreciation really starts when we begin to take words apart, turn them around, mix up the letters, and look at them sideways. In other words—play. Having fun with language has always been fair game in children's literature. Preschoolers listening to Beatrix Potter's cozy animal tales may have limited vocabularies overall, but many can define "soporific" and "fortnight." They may not be able to tell us exactly what it means to "hooie, hooie, hooie" or to "blop, blop, blop," but they know what Ruth Krauss is talking about in A Very Special House (HarperCollins, 1953). Readers will never visit the country of "Motta-fa-Potta-fa-Pell" (from If I Ran the Zoo [1950]) or ride a "Hooded Klopfer" (from Happy Birthday to You! [1959, both Random]), but thanks to Dr. Seuss, they've learned to appreciate made-up words that trip off the tongue. Older kids discover that if you look at them the right way (or is it the wrong way?), words and letters can sometimes be interchangeable, as in William Steig's CDB! (S & S, 1987) and CDC? (Farrar, 1986). And along with Milo and his ticking watchdog, they learn how language can turn frustrating and pointless when Rhyme and Reason disappear in Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth (Knopf, 1961). Contemporary authors have carried on the tradition of wordplay in an impressive variety of ways. Readers can now encounter a multilingual alien, vacationing punctuation marks, and a word-inventing cave boy as they explore the humor and intricacy of the English tongue. The following titles use creative approaches to words and illustrations to introduce anagrams, synonyms, interjections, spoonerisms, and other verbal peculiarities to elementary and middle school readers in ways that instruct and inspire a love of language.—Steven Engelfried

AGEE, Jon. Elvis Lives! And Other Anagrams. illus. by author. Farrar. 2000.

Gr 5 Up –Agee uses linguistic dexterity and inventive cartoons to present dozens of humorous anagrams. An artist's gallery filled with views of desserts demonstrates "Pictures/Piecrust" while "Dirty Room!" is a pig's comment upon viewing a messy "Dormitory." This is a great choice for booktalking and for classroom use; reveal one word and see who can come up with the anagram, or challenge students to create their own pairs. Agee's Who Ordered the Jumbo Shrimp? And Other Oxymorons (HarperCollins, 1998) and Palindromania (Farrar, 2002) are equally amusing and inspiring.

BOURKE, Linda. Eye Spy: A Mysterious Alphabet. illus. by author. Chronicle. 1991.

Gr 1-4 –This creative alphabet book manages to play with words without actually using any. The first three illustrations for each letter represent one meaning of a word, but the fourth panel shifts gears to show either a homophone or a homonym. For example, "ant" becomes "aunt," while the series of three rulers depicting "monarch" are completed by a "monarch butterfly." There's also a clue within the last picture for each letter that hints at the image to follow. It's an engaging introduction to some of the oddities of our language, in which things are not always as they sound.

BROOKE, William J. A Is for AARRGH! HarperCollins/Joanna Cotler Bks. 1999.

Gr 5-9 –Things were so much simpler when everything was just called "aarrgh." Then Mog, a prehistoric boy, invents words. At first, most of the other cave people don't see the point. The boy discovers nouns, then adds adjectives, verbs, and tenses. Some of this helps the tribe, some of it causes harm, but once started, it's too late to turn back from the flood of words. At times this humorous novel is laugh-out-loud funny, but there are also some pointed insights into the power, the beauty, and the potential danger of language.

CAHOON, Heather. Word Play ABC. illus. by author. Walker. 1999.

PreS-Gr 3 –Energetic watercolor illustrations show the humor in the literal interpretation of word segments in this offbeat book. So "flying saucer" becomes a teacup and plate in outer space, "pantry" a tree with pans hanging from the branches, and "goose bumps" are three birds bumping along on the ground. It's a clever and simple introduction to puns that could easily lead many young listeners to make up more of their own.

CHESWORTH, Michael. Alphaboat. illus. by author. Farrar. 2002.

K-Gr 3 –An "Alpha- crew" made up of letters stars in this pun-filled adventure. Led by "Captain C" and "Admiral T," the group raises enough "n r g" to find an "I-sland" and dig up the buried treasure: a dictionary. Letter-based jokes fill the rhyming text, while dialogue among the letters adds more cleverness, as in: "I, I, Captain" and "C sick?" Amusing illustrations establish the 26 characters by using varied colors, sizes, and even postures for each of the personified letters. Closer looks reveal word and letter play all the way through to "the… n."

LEARY, Brian P. Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What Is an Adjective? illus. by Jenya Prosmitsky. Carolrhoda. 2000.

Gr 2-5 –The "Words Are Categorical" series uses rhyming text and delightful art to convey the key elements of adjectives, verbs, and other parts of speech. In this series entry, there's some description of what adjectives are, but most of the learning comes from such examples as, "They tell us things are orange or green, hot or cold or in-between." Colored fonts highlight the actual adjectives, and the silly drawings, starring two cartoon cats, make this lively as well as instructional.

CLEMENTS, Andrew. Double Trouble in Walla Walla. illus. by Salvatore Murdocca. Millbrook. 1997.

Gr 1-4 –Lulu opens up a "knock'em sock'em wibble-wobble word warp" and can't stop the "flip-flop chit-chat" way of speaking in doubled phrases. When several adults catch the same "lippity-loppity jibber-jabber," everyone joins together to close the warp by saying all of the "rootin'-tootin', crink'em-crank'em, woolly-bully words" they can think of. Murdocca's caricatures reflect the exaggerated humor of the story, and the result makes for an exuberant read-aloud that's sure to have listeners trying to come up with some "fancy schmancy yak-yak" of their own.

CLEMENTS, Andrew. Frindle. illus. by Brian Selznick. S & S. 1996.

Gr 3-6 –Nick's idea to invent a brand new word is both a challenge and a tribute to his dictionary-loving, language-arts teacher. He devises ingenious ways to encourage people to start referring to pens as "frindles." Chaotic events follow as the word becomes a national phenomenon and, finally, an actual dictionary entry. Along with the humor, there are plenty of thought-provoking insights about the nature of words and their importance to the lives of regular people.

FALWELL, Cathryn. Word Wizard. illus. by author. Clarion. 1998.

K-Gr 3 –A bowl of alphabet cereal inspires Anna to become a "word wizard," moving letters around to switch "pat" to "tap" and "star" to "arts." When a lost child appears, she cheers him up by changing words with him during imaginary adventures all the way back to his house. Using distinct colors for each letter in her collage illustrations, Falwell makes the rearrangements simple to follow. This lively introduction to anagrams uses words and concepts that new readers can easily understand and conveys the way language and imagination can brighten up a child's day.

FRASIER, Debra. Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster. illus. by author. Harcourt. 2000.

Gr 3-5 –Sage thinks she's pretty good at vocabulary words, until she comes to "miscellaneous." She mishears the word as "Miss Alaineus," and when she can't find this person anywhere, she comes to her own conclusion, which results in an embarrassing classroom presentation. She turns her mistake into gold by creating an award-winning costume for the vocabulary parade. The use of lined paper and markers in the illustrations suggests real fifth-grade schoolwork, and Sage peppers her story with definitions and an alliterative alphabet in the margins, celebrating the fun and the tricky nature of words and their meanings.

HARRIS, Monica. Wake the Dead. illus. by Susan Estelle Kwas. Walker. 2004.

PreS-Gr 3 –When a boy is loud enough "to wake the dead," several corpses rise from the grave to find the source of the racket. They find "dead silence" at the library, "skeletons in the closet" at city hall, and the "dead letter office" at the post office. When they finally catch up to the child, he gets back to sleep with a bedtime story. Ink-and-watercolor illustrations depict the risen dead as more goofy than scary, with expressive skulls adorned with colorful clothing accessories. Harris fits more than 35 death-related puns and aphorisms into a pleasantly gruesome tale.

HELLER, Ruth. Fantastic! Wow! And Unreal!: A Book about Interjections and Conjunctions. illus. by author. Grosset & Dunlap. 1998.

Gr 2-5 –Sophisticated rhyming verse and imaginative illustrations demonstrate the many uses of conjunctions and interjections. The words describe these parts of speech, then present dazzling examples ranging from colorful zebras ("If ever zebras looked like these, they may have had a rare disease") to Medusa ("Holy cow! That's her hair"). Vivid colors and inventive page layouts bring a surprise at each page turn. Heller exudes delight in the English language, and her work provides an excellent introduction to parts of speech. And she makes it all rhyme…"Wow!"

HEPWORTH, Cathi. Bug Off!: A Swarm of Insect Words. illus. by author. Putnam. 1998.

K-Gr 4 –Bug humor combines with wordplay, as the title of each drawing contains the name of a creepy, crawly animal somewhere within it, as in "Frisbee" and "license." Entertainingly expressive colored-pencil illustrations depict the creatures in action, as a "behemoth" tramples a city and a series of "stalagmites" stick up from a cave floor. Besides being guaranteed to tickle the funny bone, this is a dynamite starting point for inspiring kids to look for more words within words. Pair it with the author's Antics (Putnam, 1992) for a fantastic romp with words.

HIRSCH, Robin. FEG: Stupid (Ridiculous) Poems for Intelligent Children. illus. by Ha. Little, Brown/Megan Tingley Bks. 2002.

Gr 5-8 –Half the fun here comes from the brain-stretching poems. "Cato," for instance, rearranges the letters of the title in each of the six lines (as in "O Cat/Cato/Ate your taco…"), while "Sonnet" neatly combines that classic form with acrostic poetry. Equally intriguing, though, are the extensive conversational footnotes about how the author and his children were inspired to come up with these complex verses. They include interesting background about poetry, history, language, and curious tidbits, such as "why do so many words for crazy start with the letter b?"

LEDERER, Richard. The Circus of Words: Acrobatic Anagrams, Parading Palindromes, Wonderful Words on a Wire, and More Lively Letter Play. illus. by Dave Morice. Chicago Review. 2001.

Gr 5-8 –Lederer introduces palindromes, spoonerisms, and other tricky bits of word and letter play. He offers many varied examples of each one, along with challenges for readers. In "The Shrinking Spotlight," for instance, they learn about words that become another when they lose a first letter ("orange/range") or a last letter ("needless/needles"), and that "pirate" can lose one letter at a time and always retain meaning (if we include Latin).

LEEDY, Loreen & Pat Street. There's a Frog in My Throat!: 440 Animal Sayings a Little Bird Told Me. illus. by Loreen Leedy. Holiday House. 2003.

Gr 2-6 –A delightful collection of several hundred proverbs, metaphors, idioms, and similes concerning a wide variety of creatures. Grouped by animal type, they range from the familiar ("copycat") to more obscure ("skunk works"), and each one is accompanied by an amusing illustration and a short definition. The lively presentation makes this an excellent introduction to the creative use of language. "Eager beavers" will enjoy guessing the meanings, and might easily be inspired to come up with similar word creations of their own.

LEVITT, Paul M., Douglas A. Burger, & Elissa S. Guralnick. The Weighty Word Book. illus. by Janet Stevens. Roberts Rinehart. 2000.

Gr 4-8 –Each of these 26 short stories takes an elaborate, circuitous path that leads to a "weighty" one-word punch line. Under "K," for instance, a cold Tibetan villager begins cutting off the manes of certain animals belonging to local farmers. His urge to "clip" illegally the "mane" of a "yak" helps us to remember the word at the end: "kleptomaniac." It's a creative and humorous approach to vocabulary building, and a natural lead in to having students create their own tall tales with multisyllabic conclusions.

MORRISON, Lillian, comp. It Rained All Day That Night: Autographs, Rhymes & Inscriptions. illus. by Christy Hale. August House. 2003.

Gr 3-6 –This title includes verses from Morrison's Yours Till Niagara Falls (1990) and Best Wishes, Amen (1974, both HarperCollins), plus many newly collected rhymes. Grouped into such topics as insults ("2 4 6 8 /How the heck did you graduate?"), inscriptions ("When on this page/You chance to look/Just think of me/And close the book"), and one-liners ("Yours till… the cereal bowls"), these are words that kids will enjoy reading, and then have a great time using.

PRELUTSKY, Jack. Scranimals. illus. by Peter Sís. Greenwillow. 2002.

Gr 1-4 –Prelutsky's poems and Sís's illustrations describe "potatoads," "bananacondas," "hippopotamushrooms," and other hybrid residents of Scranimal Island. By combining the name of one animal with that of another animal, plant, or fungi, the poet shows how playing with language can lead to silliness, while still following most of nature's rules: if there were such things as "broccolions," they would logically prey upon "antelopetunias." After meeting these intriguing creatures, readers can try their hand at their own cross-pollination of species with words and pictures.

PULVER, Robin. Punctuation Takes a Vacation. illus. by Lynn Rowe Reed. Holiday House. 2003.

Gr 1-3 –During recess, all of the punctuation marks rush out the door, and when the kids return, they realize they are in big trouble. Writing without periods, commas, and all of the others doesn't make sense, but when they borrow some wild substitutes from another class, things get even worse. Intentionally childlike acrylic drawings convey the chaos with spirited humor. Basic punctuation rules appear at the end, but the interaction between the personified marks and the children is what really helps readers think about these standard notations in an engaging and educational way.

SCHNEIDER, R. M. Add It, Dip It, Fix It: A Book of Verbs. illus. by author. Houghton. 1995.

PreS-Gr 2 –In a series of intriguing collage illustrations, an alphabet of verbs all direct their actions at the word "it," from "add it" and "box it" all the way to "zip it." Retaining the pronoun for each statement results in a very clear demonstration of the verbs' active qualities. Students will have fun coming up with their own list of creative verbs to apply in similar ways.

SCHNUR, Steven. Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic. illus. by Leslie Evans. Clarion. 1997.

K-Gr 3 –In this acrostic alphabet book, every letter adds a new element related to the season. Barn, for example, becomes: "Bats/And owls/Roost among empty/Nests." The progression from A to Z also moves chronologically from beginning to end of the three-month period. The simple, well-chosen words built around a theme can be a great starting point for kids trying their own acrostics. Evans's varied linoleum prints are a perfect match for these accessible, yet sophisticated poems. Spring (1999), Summer (2001), and Winter (2002, all Clarion) complete the set.

SCIESZKA, Jon. Baloney (Henry P.). illus. by Lane Smith. Viking. 2001.

Gr 1-4 –In this outer-space tall tale, a likable green alien's late-for-class excuse involves a missing pencil, a detour to another planet, and some angry astro guys. As he tells his story, Henry uses all sorts of alien-sounding words (as in "I used my zimulus to open the excape pordo"). Illustrations and context help readers figure out what the strange words really mean, but it turns out they're not from an alien tongue at all. A "decoder" at the end reveals that these seemingly wacky words have actually been taken from real Earth languages. Silly, clever, and engaging.

STEINBERG, Laya. Thesaurus Rex. illus. by Debbie Harter. Barefoot. 2003.

PreS-Gr 3 –A day in the life of an adventurous and slightly clumsy young dinosaur includes thesauruslike descriptions of his activities. "Thesaurus Rex likes to play: frolic, rollick, frisk and romp." The synonyms fit smoothly into the rhythmic story, mixing common words with less familiar ones. Many kids will enjoy the book just for the fun story and lively dinosaur illustrations, but it also works as an excellent introduction to synonyms.

STERN, Ellen. I Saw a Bullfrog. illus. by author. Random. 2003.

PreS-Gr 2 –This rhyming book draws humor from the art, which literally interprets a variety of animal names. A "catfish" appears with a scaled body and a feline face, a "deer mouse" nibbles on a seed with its antlered head, and a two-horned "bullfrog" perches on a lily pad. Acrylic-and-pencil illustrations lend the creatures an amusing touch of dignity that contrasts ironically with their odd appearance. Factual notes at the end describe what the real animals look like, but the humorous visual depictions result in a clever and simple presentation of puns.

TERBAN, Marvin. Funny You Should Ask: How to Make Up Jokes and Riddles with Wordplay. illus. by John O'Brien. Clarion. 1992.

Gr 4-8 –Terban's many wordplay riddle collections, including Hey, Hay!: A Wagonful of Funny Homonym Riddles (1991; o.p.) and Too Hot to Hoot: Funny Palindrome Riddles (1985, both Clarion) are thought-provoking as well as funny. In this title, he encourages verbal creativity by showing how various qualities of our language play a key role in so many jokes and riddles. He looks at homophones, homographs, "almost-sound-alikes," and idioms; offers a list of sample jokes; and then gives readers just enough of a start to make up jokes of their own.

WILBUR, Richard. The Pig in the Spigot. illus. by J. Otto Seibold. Harcourt. 2000.

Gr 3-6 –Wilbur's witty poetry often incorporates adroit wordplay. Here, each entry features a word that also appears within another, as in the title poem and this one: "Because he swings so neatly through trees,/An ape feels natural in the word trapeze." To these spelling oddities the author brings in the element of vocabulary, speculating in rhyme why there is a one in throne ("a monarch has to reign alone") or relating "arf" to "warfare" by describing a dogfight between airplanes. Seibold's energetic cartoons depict a hectic visual world that matches the imaginative intricacy of the poems.