Review: Wally the Wordworm

Wally the Wordworm by Clifton Fadiman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another book I wanted to like more than I actually did. I love the idea that authors shouldn't shy away from using big words, because the big words help a child want to learn them. But I prefer the big words to be used in the service of the story, not just left dangling there as enticement to look them up in a dictionary or on the Internet. A few of the words are used correctly, a few more are explained with the text or the illustrations, but many are just thrown in there because they are weird or interesting. They are left hanging out there with no real purpose.

The other thing is that the words don't come in any particular order. They jump around all through the dictionary and it makes no story sense why one word appears where it does and the next one follows. They are neither linked in sequence or in a reasonable story line.

I like idea. I like the illustrations. I think the book could have been better.

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