Book Pick--The Boy Who Loved Words

From SLJ April 2006 (Starred Review)

Joy Fleishhacker, School Library Journal -- School Library Journal, 3/27/2006

SCHOTTER, Roni. The Boy Who Loved Words. illus. by Giselle Potter. unpaged. glossary. CIP. Random/Schwartz & Wade Bks. 2006. Tr $16.95. ISBN 0-375-83601-2; PLB $18.99. ISBN 0-375-93601-7. LC 2005010850.

Gr 1-4–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!"), their taste ("tantalizing!"), and the way they "moved his heart." 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, early-20th-century past. An inspiring choice for young wordsmiths and anyone who cherishes the variety and vitality of language.

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