Words
by Christoph Niemann (Author) Christoph Niemann (Illustrator)
What can you do with a word? Read it, spell it, say it, picture it, understand it, make a sentence with it, tell a story with it, share it with a friend. Everything starts with a love of words! More than 300 words inspired by Dr. Edward Fry's list of sight words are paired with striking and playful illustrations by internationally renowned designer and artist Christoph Niemann to deepen understanding, to enrich, and to enlighten those learning to read and write English, whether they be children or adults.
This compilation of more than 300 words and pictures encourages reading, fuels the imagination, and offers hours of decoding fun. Christoph Niemann has illustrated each word with a picture that challenges readers to make connections and puzzle out meaning in a playful way. Homophones, basic punctuation, and an assortment of silly and unusual words are also included to delineate the eighteen sections of the book.
Browse the pages to discover words you don't know (or find a new facet of the ones you do)! Create your own stories or poems by combining words, images, and ideas. Can you think of other words to describe the images, or new drawings to interpret the words? Cover a word with your finger and ask a friend to guess it just by looking at the picture. Or pick a word and draw (or write) what you think happens next. . . . This is an excellent, original, and exuberant teaching tool for parents as well as elementary school teachers, and it will also be useful for ESL programs. Includes an introduction and an index.
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Publishers Weekly
In a remarkable compilation of more than 300 words, Niemann again proves himself a master of evoking emotions, cause and effect, and other concepts in images drawn in chunky black line. Small sentences and rhymes manifest ("come/ here/ help/ him/ slowly/ turn/ around/ again"); opposites such as over and under appear side by side; compound words and idiomatic phrases are suggested (heavy, hand); and evocative words such as lollygag and somnambulist are thrown in for kicks. Throughout, Niemann scatters subtle correlations for readers to tease out: water, which is pictured as a fish happily ensconced in a bowl, is shown opposite Earth, seen from outer space. (Also, it's almost certain that this is the same fish seen earlier outside the same bowl, looking far less happy and joined by the word must.) Most images appear against white backgrounds, but bold backdrops of teal, marigold, and other colors are used to highlight homonyms (in one, a single match stick finds its romantic match on the facing page). It's a dynamic exploration of language, saturated with connections for readers to draw and redraw. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)
Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 4--Niemann begin with a simple concept: he illustrates 300 of the most common sight words in English using a thick black marker and a big stack of paper. The nouns and adjectives ("dog," "small," "street") are simple enough to represent. But how to approach "why," "just," or "but"? Niemann rises to the occasion in this delightful, thought-provoking experiment to "celebrate language and art." Beginning readers will enjoy looking at the images and sounding out the words. However, this title is way more than a traditional primer. Part of the fun is puzzling out the thought process behind the images. Some spreads use the context of both pages to convey the meaning (e.g., "left/right," "could/would"). More experienced readers will appreciate the nuance and complexity of some of the renderings. For instance, "test" looks like a swimmer dipping a toe into the water, and "state" is a half-melted snowman looking down at his own puddle. In figuring out why Niemann represents a word in a particular way, readers and aspiring artists will uncover and perhaps challenge their own ways of constructing meaning. VERDICT Recommended for most collections as well as for classrooms and family time.--Jennifer Costa, Cambridge Public Library, MA
Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
JUV043000 - Juvenile Fiction | Readers | Beginner
JUV009080 - Juvenile Fiction | Concepts | Words
