Wittgenstein himself couldn't have written a finer treatise for preschoolers on semantic theory. ( )

Sweet, gorgeously design-y, though skewed a bit young for the boy. ( )

Another wonderful book that is a must for your children's book collection. ( )

I'm oscillating wildly between giving it 5 stars and giving it 2. 3-and-a-half seemed like a nice compromise :)

This is a book about... words and poetry, but not really. (I'm aware that's clear as mud, but bear with me here.) The author is seeking, I think, to define language and ideas without actually giving definitions. As an example, the first page runs:

What are words?
Words are how what you think inside
comes out
and how to remember what you might
forget about.

The book goes on like this until the end. And honestly, I'm not sure if I like it or not. The author has a gift of putting together language in a way that's friendly and makes the whole concept of "language" clear... but I'm not sure if she goes above the head of her audience or, conversely, is well too easy for them!

The illustrations are cheerfully retro (well, they were modern when this was first in print), no complaints there.

Check this book out of the library before you buy it. And you know what? If you like it, try Margaret Wise Brown's The Important Book. These two have similar styles. ( )

Colorful discussion of what words are, what they do, and how we use them. ( )