Ten Second Synopsis:They're words, they're numbers - they're Wumbers! Gr8 idea!I think kids aged from about seven up will get a kick out of this book. The text doesn't follow any particular story or theme, but instead shows humorous interactions that use words whose sound and letter patterns can be replaced by a numeral. My favourite is in the endpapers: "What do you think you'll be as 18eenager?" Tricky, no?!This would be great as a read aloud for class literacy work to get kids thinking about sound patterns, how words are constructed and what happens when we play around with spelling and text. I would recommend it as a read-alone for confident readers as the numerals embedded in the words might be a bit of a challenge for emerging readers - although, then again, they might help out!A bit of fun. It's hard to know how to classify this book--it doesn't tell a story, but it's not really "nonfiction" in terms of conveying facts. The easiest thing to say is that it's word-play and number-play--words that are made by substituting numbers for some of the letters. My kindergartner wasn't home when we read this (we've only read it once so far), but my preschoolers enjoyed finding the numbers on each page. I'm not sure that they really "got" the concept, but the enjoyed the book nonetheless. It would probably appeal to elementary students who like puzzles and word finds.
What do You think about Wumbers (2012)?
Such a fun writing activity for kids. My favorite is "I like chicken 10ders."
—magicaitch
No real story to speak of, but the images are nice.
—magzinator
W1derful fun reading number cre8ed words!-Monty K.
—Ella
