by Jen Bryant
Eerdman's Books for Young Readers (2014)
A quiet, observant boy, Peter Mark Roget enjoys making lists. It helps create order in his young life after the death of his father prompts a move from Switzerland to England. It may even be a compulsion, but he uses it as a learning/organizing tool, and shares it with students he tutors. Eventually his lists help him in his career and to improve his social skills by giving him confidence in abilities. The lists are published as Roget’s Thesaurus, which has been in print continuously since 1852.
Appropriate Target Audience:
GR 2-5, ages 7+; story would work for younger children, (6-8 y.o.) especially as a read-aloud, but the illustrations are a huge part of the story. Younger readers in the target age range may be overwhelmed by the abundant graphics and their interplay with the text if reading independently. Older readers, including teens and adults, will enjoy the rich art that helps tell the story of Peter Roget in more than just the right words.
Strengths/Weaknesses and Accuracy/Authenticity:
The award-winning author and illustrator have both written other award-winning Juvenile Biographies. This duo often include additional notes and resources in their books to further enhance the learning experience. In The Right Word, they include a comparison timeline of principal events of both Peter Mark Roget’s life and world events, an author’s note, an illustrator’s note, a bibliography, suggested further reading, and an actual page from Roget’s original word list book. Some strengths of Bryant’s and Sweet’s work is that it is engaging for many ages and balances information with beauty; the illustrations in The Right Word that accompany the text are entrancing and fortify the story. A weakness could be that some children find the idea of lists of words being a hobby or passion quite ridiculous. But that’s one of the beautiful things about hobbies, they are what you love, for whatever reason.
Meaningful/Creative uses:
Create a display using a print thesaurus (include a digital version if possible) along with other types of Reference books: Dictionary, World Almanac, Index of Birds… how did they come to be? Who thinks about the creators of resources? Label the display with the authors/creators, along with short bios.
Make a list: it doesn’t have to be words and synonyms, you could make a play list of music you want to share, or photos of places you want to visit, or recipes you hope to cook. Does creating a list make something more real?
Write down interesting words in a notebook or journal (for school or for fun). Use them in conversation, school assignments – be ready to give a definition for those who don’t know them yet!
Awards: Golden Kite Award, 2015 Picture Book Illustration; Kirkus Prize, 2014 Picture Book Biography; Lupine Award, 2014 Picture Book; Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children, 2015 NonFiction; Randolph Caldecott Medal, 2015 Picture Book; Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal, 2015 Picture Book
Read-Alikes:
Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine, by Laurie Wallmark; “Ada Lovelace, the daughter of the famous romantic poet, Lord Byron, develops her creativity through science and math. When she meets Charles Babbage, the inventor of the first mechanical computer, Ada understands the machine better than anyone else and writes the world's first computer program in order to demonstrate its capabilities.”
The Day-Glo Brothers, by Chris Barton; “A discovery that made the world a brighter place! Joe and Bob Switzer were very different brothers. Bob was a studious planner who wanted to grow up to be a doctor. Joe dreamed of making his fortune in show business and loved magic tricks and problem-solving. When an accident left Bob recovering in a darkened basement, the brothers began experimenting with ultraviolet light and fluorescent paints. Together they invented a whole new kind of color, one that glows with an extra-special intensity: Day-Glo!”
The Boy Who Drew Birds; The Story of John James Audubon, by Jacqueline Davies; “John James Audubon was a boy who loved the out-of-doors more than the in. He was a boy who believed in studying birds in nature, not just from books. And, in the fall of 1804, he was a boy determined to learn if the small birds nesting near his Pennsylvania home really would return the following spring. This book reveals how the youthful Audubon pioneered a technique essential to our understanding of birds.”
Tags: Inventions, passion, hobby, fill_a_niche, introverts, think_outside_the_box, lists, words, reference
