Tohby Riddle

A book for children about the history and quirks of the English language. I’ve been reading another book about the development of the English as a language, so those parts in The Word Spy mostly just summarised what I already knew - but I am not the book’s intended audience.

And I was thoroughly entertained by the rest of the book. It’s full of interesting details about language and history, clever word play and amusing illustrations. There were things I didn’t know, like the origin show more of the word apostrophe, or had misremembered, like the origin of Mrs Malaprop, or didn’t know the name for, like tautologies. I knew about anagrams, but hadn’t heard of lipograms (not using words with a certain letter) or pangrams (using all the letters of the alphabet). I hadn’t seen the Monty Python sketch about the ex-parrot recommended in the section about euphemisms.

This is published in the US as The Word Snoop, which seems like a strange title change. (What’s wrong with the word ‘spy’?)

I suppose in the end, language, like history, is made by human beings. And human beings are so hopelessly different and disorganised, they can never quite agree on anything. They’re only humans, after all. (Sigh.)
Still, maybe there’s something special about having these crazy plurals and even crazier spellings. I sometimes think English is like a big old wall that people have been scribbling on for centuries. show less

This picture book tugged at my heartstrings. A tale of the genuine friendship between a donkey and a fox. Different, yet similar. A ray of hope being not only being Clive and Humphrey's friendship, but a play they attend after finding tickets. It's an amazing truth that no matter how different we each may be, there is something that connects us all and may even illicit the same emotions and feelings. I love when I stumble on picture books or children's literature that can help you talk to show more younger readers about serious topics. This is one of those gems. There are some definite undertones of loneliness and poverty, and how it has a different impact on each of us. show less

read as a judge for Aurealis awards for 2019

From the very beginning, I was fascinated. I loved the use of a simple, muted palette, the interspersing of the historical (white) and the current (Indigenous) voices, the slow building of the idea. There are so many details that one could go back and look at

A realistic story with a touch of the absurd. I'm not sure how much kids like these, sometimes it feels as if they're written more with an adult audience in mind. But, it's fairly original and the illustrations, which are a mix of drawings and mixed media, are interesting. For more stories in the same vein, check out for instance [b:John Jensen Feels Different|13238951|John Jensen Feels Different (Johannes Jensen, #1)|Henrik show more Hovland|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348088433s/13238951.jpg|18437467], or [b:Else-Marie and Her Seven Little Daddies|662787|Else-Marie and Her Seven Little Daddies|Pija Lindenbaum|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1335184004s/662787.jpg|648855]. show less