“Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup”-- Lennon and McCartney
“If only all the ideas in the world could be found in one place, theneveryone would have one book where they could find the best word, the one thatreally fit.”
In so many ways my two years in middle school sucked. In other words,they were dreadful, painful, deplorable, frightful, crappy, lousy, tough,horrid, and very distressing.
But one of my fonder memories of those years is my having been, for thefirst time in my academic career, obliged to purchase a book for a class: Myeighth grade English teacher required each of us to buy a thesaurus. Iacquired the then-new 1968 edition of the New American Roget’s CollegeThesaurus in Dictionary Form.
It was so liberating to suddenly have all of those related words at hand.I could more clearly and exactly express what I was trying to write. Itmade writing more fun. Since then, my life has never been the same.But I never knew a thing about Peter Mark Roget -- didn’t even know hisfirst name -- until now. Thanks to Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet, I now knowhis story.
This guy was a nerd more than two hundred years before the word nerd wasinvented! Beginning as young child, his idea of fun was to create lists ofwords. He graduated medical school at 19. As an adult his idea of a goodtime was attending lectures, and taking part in meetings of sciencesocieties. And, of course, making more word lists.Then, the year he turned 73, his book of lists was finally published andhe was on his way to immortality.
Despite the eighteenth-century garb and accoutrements, Melissa Sweet’sRoget appears to be someone with whom you can imagine playing kickball,.These days, so many of us search online for synonyms and antonyms. Giventhat these compilations of words all go back to the life work of Peter MarkRoget, it is great for kids to learn about his unusual and notable story.
42 pages 978-0-8028-5385-1 Ages 7-11Recommended by: Richie Partington, MLIS, Librarian, California USA
Read more of his recommendations: (https://richiespicks.com/)