Wordplay
Author: Ivan Brunetti
Publisher: TOON Books
ISBN-10: 1-9431-4517-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-9431-4517-1
Disclosure: A free copy of this book was furnished by the publisher for review, but providing a copy did not guarantee a review. This information is provided per the regulations of the Federal Trade Commission.
Ivan Brunetti is an award-winning artist on the faculty of Columbia College Chicago and a cover artist for The New Yorker. This 40-page hardcover picture book for first readers is his first book for children.
Annemarie in elementary school enthusiastically embraces a class assignment to list compound words; two words that combine to make a new word, like basketball, homework, and rainbow. Annemarie daydreams (and Brunetti shows) some compound words separated into their components, such as a house flying (housefly), a dog wearing a wristwatch (watchdog), and a USPS letter delivering mail (mailman). She also visualizes words that don’t combine (rabbit hole never becomes a single word), and nonexistent words (meanwhale instead of meanwhile).
Brunetti humorously encourages kindergarten and first-grade readers to see the meanings behind more complex words that they are just learning. His depictions of Annemarie favorably present a racially mixed classroom. This $12.95 book is recommended.
