Donavan's Word Jar - Softcover

Monalisa DeGross

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0153565853 ISBN 13: 9780153565854

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin School, 2006

Synopsis

Book by Monalisa DeGross

About this title

About the Author

Monalisa DeGross has long been involved in the world of children's literature through her job in the Office of Children and Youth at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, MD, where she lives.This is her first book for children.

Cheryl Hanna is the illustrator of several books for children, including An Enchanted Hair Tale by Alexis De Veaux, a 1987 Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book.She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

From Booklist

Gr. 2-3, younger for reading aloud. Some of Donavan's friends collect marbles or coins or comics or buttons. He collects words. He writes down words he finds--from ballyhoo blazing across a billboard to nutrition on the cereal box--and keeps them all in a jar. When the jar is full, he asks his parents, his third-grade teacher, and his grandma how to keep his words safe, until he realizes that words are meant to be shared. The message in this first chapter book is upbeat, almost a fable at times, with echoes of the mythic genie in a jar; but the story is also rooted in the everyday world of Donovan's affectionate African American family. Above all, the words themselves are a delight: silly words such as squabble and bamboozle, soft words like hush, mysterious words like hieroglyphic, people words like cantankerous. The words surprise you with their sound and their meaning. Kids will see that language is play and that it makes people a community. The many full-page illustrations were not seen in galley, but the warm cover will pull readers in. Hazel Rochman

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin School
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0153565853
• ISBN 13: 9780153565854
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 80