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The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus

By Jen Bryant; illustrated by Melissa Sweet

 

 

 

 

Here’s a line from J.M. Barrie in his Peter Pan tongue in cheek description of the bane of children everywhere; the pirate, Captain Hook:

 

 

     “The man is not wholly evil – He has a Thesaurus in his cabin.”

 

 

Okay, so he’s a literate pirate with a taste for words. I’ll give him that much.

For any budding small authors you may know, they may gain much encouragement from the telling of Peter Roget’s life who began his first book at age eight, calling it: Peter. Mark. Roget. His Book.

Here is a picture book that may intrigue many young readers – and parents as well, for the authors have won a well deserved Caldecott Honor Book Award and The Robert Sibert Medal given for its freshness and ability to make the complex available to young minds. Called “a wonder, a marvel, a surprise” of a book, it was awarded the Sibert Medal in 2015 as “the most distinguished informational book published in English in the preceding year.”

Making Roget’s life available to the youngest readers is no mean task, for he started by fashioning lists of Latin words with their meanings written next to the word.

Melissa Sweet has illustrated his initial lists with a charming, and childlike simplicity in mixed media, that brings the word, its meaning and accompanying picture, alive to the reader.

To illustrate the look of his lists, even some of Ms. Bryant’s text is written in rows as in:

 

                   But

Peter’s

word

lists

were

not

just

scribbles.

Words

Peter

learned

were

powerful

things.

And

when

he

put

them

in

long,

neat

rows,

he

felt

as if

the

world

itself

clicked

into

order.

 

 

Just who was Peter Mark Roget, born in 1779, that compiled plethoras of lists from a very early age?

Well, moving often at a very early age made it difficult for young Peter to form friendships. But he did find fast ones – in books!  And those books had plenty of words!

And science books by the Swedish scientist, Linnaeus, were a particular  favorite of the teenage Peter. Linnaeus made lists as Peter did. Peter wandered through London parks compiling lists of all plants and insects.

His mother had just a smidgen, of “worry” over all these lists and wanderings of Peter’s.  But was “worry” the right word? Why not fret, badger, annoy, plague, provoke or even harass? The choices were endless.

Finding the right word was wonderful!

But what if there were a book, Peter imagined, “one book where one could find the best word that really fit.”

Medical school in Edinburgh, Scotland, followed, working later among the factory poor in London, and always, the lists were his passion.

In 1805, came his first big book of word lists called “Collections of English Synonyms Classified and Arranged.”

He was soon lecturing and inventing everything from portable chess sets to a new math tool.

In 1852, he published his “Thesaurus” from a Greek word meaning “treasure house” and quickly sold 1000 copies.

And today, thanks to this young list maker, EVERYONE has the ability to find just the right word and its meaning.

And it has remained in continuous print to this day!

Ms. Bryant’s text, along with Ms. Sweet’s vibrant, mixed media art, together bring Roget’s story of collective lists and their immense subject trove, alive to a young reader’s picture book sensibility.

A Listing of Principal Events at the end of the book, gives a timeline of his other achievements, as well as what was happening concurrently in similar fields of study.

How’s this for fascinating? In 1824, after casually observing the spokes on the wheel of a passing carriage that appear to bend when seen through vertical window blinds, Roget wrote a scientific paper on optical illusion. And THAT is considered to be one of the founding underpinnings of modern cinematography.

Who knew, realized, perceived, sensed, recognized, or noticed any of this? Not I.

I will now; every time I reach for my Thesaurus!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Our lovely and fantastic Melissa Sweet, author and illustrator of many award-winning picture books, is here accepting the Golden Kite for her illustrations of Peter Mark Roget's life and world in The Right Word: Roget and his Thesaurus.

Melissa got to handle original Roget pages like these—without gloves!

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The best non-fiction picture books of 2014, as picked by the editors and contributors of The Children’s Book Review.

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Randolph Caldecott Medal Winner The most distinguished American picture book for children, announced by the American Library Association.

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This week my Penn students are off for spring break, but I'll be back in (another) classroom tomorrow—this time among the eighth graders of Villa Maria Academy, where I've been asked to share some thoughts and favorite books for World Read Aloud Day.

In preparation I've been sitting on the floor surrounded by books (isn't that where everything begins?).  I've been making decisions about what to carry forward.

My choices are these:

Owls and Other Fantasies: Mary Oliver
Carver: Marilyn Nelson
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: Betty Smith
A River of Words: Jen Bryant/Melissa Sweet
The Marvelous Journey Through the Night: Helme Heine
The Book Thief: Markus Zusak
One Crazy Summer: Rita Williams-Garcia
Mockingbird: Kathryn Erskine
Between Shades of Gray: Ruta Sepetys
Goodbye, Mr. Chips: James Hilton

What will you read, for World Read Aloud Day?

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"Music For The End Of Time" by Jen Bryant, illustrations by Beth Peck
Published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, September 15, 2005, 32 pages
Ages 9-12

This book was borrowed from the library for the purpose of reading/reviewing.

This book is based on the real life experience of Olivier Messiaen a Christian French composer and pianist.
In 1940 he was captured and sent to the Nazi prison camp--Stalag 8A in Gorlitz, Poland. While he was there he was allowed to play a piano and compose music. He composed "Quartet For The End Of Time." A quartet of prisoners played the piano, violin, cello, and clarinet.
Please read the biography devoted to this composer:
http://www.oliviermessiaen.org/messiaen2index.htm

I read this book to my six year old granddaughter, not paying close enough attention that it was for ages nine to twelve. She sat still while I read this book, she listened attentively to the more lengthy story than most books she is read to. She was surprised to hear it was a true story. She told me it was a sad/happy book.
Music is magic, meaning music takes you to a place where your heart can soar beyond your present circumstances. Olivier was given the ability by a German prison guard to play a piano and compose music, and that took him to a place far away from the stark, cold, fear of prison. The story is told in a manner that a child of ages nine through twelve could understand, yet my six year old granddaughter liked and understood the story. The illustrations are subdued, probably masking the horrific life in a Nazi prison camp. The firearms that the Nazi soldiers hold are not defined (shapeless) and appear less frightening. Body expressions such as the face, slumped shoulders, the hands, they tell the story through art.
I felt this was a great book, the adult reader will need to be prepared for questions and further discussion considering the topic.

Blissful Reading!
Annette

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Jen Bryant's biography of poet William Carlos Williams for the grade-school reader is just the type of biography any poet would want. In A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams, the poetry and its writing remain more important to the tale than the events of the poet's life.

So, while we learn William Carlos Williams loved to spend time outdoors, wandering, as a child, we also discover what was most important about these childish excursions: "...as he walked through the high grasses and along the soft dirt paths, Willie watched everything" and "the river's music both excited and soothed Willie. Sometimes, as he listened to its perfect tune, he fell asleep."

Bryant tells us of William Carlos Williams as a student, but most importantly about his study of poetry:

Poetry suited Willie. Every night,
he looked forward to sitting at his desk
and writing a few lines.

But after a while, he grew frustrated.
He had pictures in his mind that didn't fit exactly
into steady rhythms or rhymes.
'I have never seen a swan or an archer,' Willie thought.
'I want to write about ordinary things--

A River of Words is a biography of a poet--of how a young person becomes, lives, and works as a poet. Indeed, William Carlos William's career as a doctor plays second fiddle to practical, yet lyrical, descriptions of how he managed to write poetry in the evenings after work.

Melissa Sweet's illustrations are warm and make much use of Williams's poems and other textual elements (notepads, drafts, textbooks). A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams is a first-class biography, and one to use in the classroom to learn not only about Williams, or more about poetry, but also to learn more about biography and how different biographical approaches can approach a life in radically different ways.
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A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams
by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2008
ISBN: 0-8028-5302-8

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Other Blog Reviews:

One Minute Book Reviews
Fairrosa's Reading Journal
A Fuse #8
Achuka
Bookends
Don't miss Jama Rattigan's interview will illustrator Melissa Sweet at Alphabet Soup.
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Susan Taylor Brown has the roundup at Susan Writes.

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It's Friday evening and the rain from Hanna has started. The DC area is under a tropical storm warning tomorrow, which is an unknown entity to me. I can handle tornado warnings and blizzard warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings, but... tropical storms? I'm thinking severe thunderstorm + tornado x 2? Maybe? Luckily, I live with a hurricane expert and he doesn't seem worried (although there is a gallon of water in my car because I have to go to work tomorrow. Hmmmm...)

Dear internets, I'll be fine. I'm just typing out loud here.

Anyway... here is my Poetry Friday entry.

Ringside, 1925: Views from the Scopes Trial Jen Bryant

This is a novel in verse about the Scopes Monkey/Evolution trial. It has 9 narrators--mostly townspeople, plus a few observers. Each character has their own poetic voice and style. Even though, like many poetry novels, I'm wondering if deleting the line breaks would have made such a difference.

It's broken into several sections, each one starting with quotations from people involved in the trial. There is a epilogue explaining what happened with the historical personages, as well as the current issues with teaching evolution in our science classes. There is also a short author's note explaining why she did certain things (such as reporting styles and the use of the words colored and Negro). The book has a definite pro-evolution slant to it. The anti-evolution characters are shown as a little crazy and, often hypocritical. Or taking the stance for a reason that has nothing to do with the issues at hand.

Bryant's account of the trial is one where Scopes was really just arrested because the town elders wanted the media circus that would inevitably surround such a trial in an effort to increase tourism to Dayton. The best voices are those of the children--3 high school students and one African-American boy and how the trial changes them. Often, it's not so much about evolution, but just the contact with the so many new faces and ideas gets them thinking in new ways about their futures.

Full disclosure: Book provided by author.

Round up is at Wild Rose Reader. Check it out!

Hanna update: Dan just tied a flashlight to my belt, in case we lose power. He's placing other ones through out the house in strategic locations. We are nothing if not prepared.

Also, Storm Naming People? Hanna should have an H on it. I know this because in 2nd grade, I had to read a story called "Hannah is a Palindrome" in which the teacher wrote that on the board, and then got called down to the office, and so all the other kids started making fun of Hannah. The mean kids were led by a boy named Otto. Then Hannah looked up palindrome in the dictionary and wrote "Otto is a palindrome" on the board which shut him up right quick. And then the teacher came back and was really proud of her because it turns out she was about to write that before getting called away. And, in order for Hannah to be a palindrome? It needs 2 H's.

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