A Dad's Reviews

         I might be a lover of language, but there is truth to the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words.  A good picture--a really  good picture--is rich with possibility.  Rather than just telling a story, it can invite the viewer to create his or her own.  Done right, this can make for the most magical of children's books.       Done right.       Because not everyone does, and as a general rule, for books I like to stick to words.  After all, how do you read a picture book to your kids?  How do you do special voices for all the villains and keep to just the right rhythm and pace to keep them on the edge of their seats?       Well, again, if a picture book is done just right, then you don't have to worry about those things, because the book will do it for you.  And almost every time I will pick a book of words over a picture book when rea...

          A love of reading goes hand-in-hand with a love of words.  I've never (okay, seldom) been one to read the dictionary for fun, but I think every reader knows the thrill of finding a new word, a word that perfectly describes a thing you'd never had a precise way of describing before, a new combination of sounds, sometimes even an entirely new idea.  Sonja Wimmer's The Word Collector is a celebration of that thrill.     Luna is a word collector who lives in a lighthouse high above the sky.  From her tower she uses her fishing net and pole to catch words for her collection:   Funny words that tickle your palate when you say them, words so beautiful they make you cry, friendly words that embrace your soul.  Magic words, delicious words, long and short words, funny words, crazy words, magnificent words, little words, humble words, serious words... But one day a tragedy strikes:  Luna finds that she is catchin...

       From my earliest childhood, there are few pleasures I’ve savored quite like getting lost in a bookstore.  Wandering from shelf to shelf, eyes catching on curious covers or strange titles, pulling one out to read the dust jacket, then the first page...and then being told that the bookstore is about to close; can you please take any purchases to the front?  And even as a adult, perhaps especially as an adult, I love to browse the children’s section.  All of my old favorites are there--Lewis and Tolkien and L’engle and Alexander and so many more.  Sometimes I’ll see a title that I haven’t thought of in years and be swept immediately back to childhood memories; more often, I’ll see a brand-new book that I wish had been in print when I was a kid.   It was only a few days after my first child was born that I found myself wandering a Barnes and Noble during my lunch break, looking for something a little special.  Looking, in fact,...