It started ok, and then it got really irritating. The first chapters on the origins of the English language and why spelling appears so erratic was interesting. and then the rest was a rehash of what I already knew and one hopes any child learning English or learning in English would know (do they?) and her jokey tone became quite annoying. But then again I'm not a teenager, so maybe that stuff is still funny if you are!So, if you're thinking your kid is deprived on the nuances of anagrams, pangrams, lipograms, acronyms, palindromes, mnemonics, oxymorons, puns, mondegreens, onomatopoeia etc. go ahead and let them read this. True confession - I did not read the entirity of this book. In fact I brought it home for my daughter to read because she is on a Greek root word kick. I am not sure if she did read it... but I did browse through it and it is very entertaining. It is light and well written and does not get weighed down by is very weighty content. Lots of historical facts, evolutions, and games in and around the wonderful English Language. Just the sort of thing a tween needs to one up their classmates. It will probably be coming back to the house after a few circs here at the library.
What do You think about The Word Spy (2007)?
I used this with my son (I homeschool) and it was great fun!
—nunu
This is actually such a cute book, and super interesting!
—chrissy
