The Boy Who Loved Words

The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter
Illustrated by Giselle Potter
2006

     Selig was a collector or words. He loved everything about words "-the sound of them in his ears (tintinnabulating!), the taste of them on his tongue (tantalizing!), the thought of them when they percolated in his brain (stirring!), and most especially, the feel of them when the moved his heart (Mama!)."  Selig would stuff his pockets and socks with words, literally.  He would carry his words everywhere and eventually, people at school began to call him Wordsworth and Oddball, which made him feel lonely. Selig had a dream where a Genie told him he needed to go and find his purpose.  Selig leaves home and weighted down by all the words in his pockets, he takes them off and hangs each one from a branch in a tree where he lays down to sleep.  That night, a poet looking for the right words to write about the moon, comes across the words Selig has hung from the tree.  The poet completes his poem using Selig's words and Selig realizes he has found his purpose: "spreading the word -sharing his words with others!" From then one, Selig became Wordsworth.
     The Boy Who Loved Words is a beautiful tale about the love of language and the power of words.  The vocabulary used in the story is a wonderful tool to use in the classroom as well as at home. It can  be used to teach figuring out meaning of unknown words from context.  At the end of the book, there is a glossary with all the advanced vocabulary included in the story.  It's a treat for those who love words as much as I do.