The Boy Who Loved Words (review)

Young Selig collects words, stuffing them into his pockets, shirts, socks, and sleeves, until words begin to take over his whole life. His mother and father grow worried, and his schoolmates make fun, nicknaming him "Wordsworth" (no relation to the Romantic poet). Selig's words save the day, however, when a poet with writer's block stumbles upon macaroon, lozenge, lemon, and licorice and is able to complete his poem. From that day, Selig dedicates his life to sharing words and becomes a vocabularic hero, eventually marrying a woman named Melody, who has a similar gift but in music rather than language. Selig lives on, and "if, one day . . . the perfect word just seems to come to you . . . You'll know that Selig is near." The power of words is strongly conveyed through the story, and the treatment of Selig's collecting is a creative way to introduce difficult words in context. The book reads a lot like a vocabulary lesson, though, both because Selig's word-hero status seems a stretch (the words "fuss, hubbub, and jibber-jabber" miraculously stop a fight; "limber, spry, and gusto" make an old man feel youthful again), and because the intermingled italicized words and endpaper glossary resemble a workbook exercise. Potter's illustrations incorporate word cutouts cleverly into sturdy, rich paintings, and though stiffly drafted figures and the olive-green palette are at times rather stodgy, the art provides interest through collage and detail. While the didactic emphasis will deter some, this may prove to have appeal as a fairy tale for kids with their own word fetishes or as a useful lesson aid to teachers and librarians looking to spice up a language arts unit.