I love everything about the concept of this book... but I think it is a bit too dated for modern audiences. This clever book turns the sketches of Melvyn Peake (each illustrating a different figure of speech) into a guessing game. In addition to creatively illustrating phrases like "Grin and bear it," Peake uses humorous puns to demonstrate the literal meaning of each phrase. With no captions or table of contents, the reader must guess what each image represents. (There is, though, an "answer key" in the back.) The book even suggests ways to make it a game amongst family and friends.

Your average reader probably wouldn't recognize Melvyn Peake's name, nor would they recognize the sayings, all of which were popular in 1953. I would love to see someone modernize the idea--using contemporary figures of speech, this would be a great educational game, and I would like to at least adapt the spirit of the book as a classroom activity. ( )

Caricature drawings of various figures of speech. Most of the figures of speech are rather dated to the early-21st century ear, so this collection will be of most interest to Peake completists or to wordplay geeks. (Some significant overlap there, I'd guess.)

Delightful. A collection of thirty drawings by Peake illustrating various proverbs. The proverbs themselves are listed in the back, so the book can be used for gameplay. ( )