Word Cruncher: Boris Ate A Thesaurus by Neil Steven Klayman

I'LL NEVER FORGET THE DAY I ATE A THESAURUS.

"WHO KNOWS WHAT A SYNONYM IS?" ASKED MISS SIMMS.

"THOSE STICKY THINGS THAT TASTE GOOD!" I SHOUTED.

"NO!" SAID MISS SIMMS. "THOSE ARE CINNAMON BUNS!

A SYNONYM IS A WORD THAT MEANS THE SAME THING AS ANOTHER WORD, LIKE BUDDY, PAL, FRIEND."

"WHO CAN TELL ME WHAT A THESAURUS IS?"

I HOLLERED, "IT'S A BIG GREEN MONSTER!"

"THAT'S A TYRANNOSAURUS! A THESAURUS IS A BOOK WHERE SYNONYMS LIVE."

What a concept! Our little student immediately grasps the utility of such a book of word choices. But since it's almost time for lunch, he decides to take a daring short cut.

I PICKED UP THE BOOK AND DEVOURED EVERY WORD!"

The results are instantaneous. He suddenly begins to spout synonyms with every utterance. He is very verbose, terrible talkative, largely loquacious. Everyone is amazed, and as his fame spreads, he even makes the evening network news. Then the president invites him to come to Washington to help him deliver a big speech.

But the effect seems to be wearing off. Words escape him from time to time. Will he be speechless? Where can he find his words? Is this THE END, FINIS, CONCLUSION?

Neil Steven Klayman's Boris Ate A Thesaurus (Rainbow Bridge, 2011) is a fine kickoff, launching pad, jumping off point for the study of this impressive-sounding but fascinating reference book for elementary kids. A droll take on this cousin of the dictionary, Klayman's comic romp through the world of synonyms eases the transition from simple dictionaries to the more specialized forms and offers some funny possibilities for kids to re-write jokes, famous speeches or sayings, keeping their thesauruses handy for translation. Barry Chung's illustrations are sorta silly, kinda comic, pretty playful, mayhap mirthful, and fairly funny.

Double this one with Oliver Jeffers' The Incredible Book Eating Boy for a brace, couple, duo, duet, or pair of wordy protagonists.