LSSL 5360 Module 4 Review: The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bryant, Jen. Ill. Melissa Sweet. 2014. The Right Word:Roget and His Thesaurus. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdsman’s Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780802853851

PLOT SUMMARY

Books make the best of friends, especially to a young, shy boy named Peter Mark Roget.  His love for books and reading eventually led him to begin some writing of his own, but he didn’t write stories.  Peter began making lists of all kinds, expressing his love for words in an organized fashion until he found just what he wanted to say what he thought.  He continued with his list making and eventually started a reference book that would be used throughout the rest of time.  

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Sweet’s watercolor illustrations fill the pages layered over collages of fonts and images in a vintage style and perfectly capture Roget’s passion and the era in which he lived.  Embedded in the illustrations are even opportunities for readers to expand their word knowledge with latin translations of animal name, mathematical terms, and a multitude of synonyms throughout. In addition to a masterfully written, visually appealing story, there is a detailed timeline that includes his other inventions and a side note from the author and illustrator.  Overall, it is a delightfully put together biography.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Robert Sibert Award Winner

Caldecott Honor Book

"Sweet envisions Roget's work as a shadow box crammed with the wonders of the natural world, adorned with exuberant hand-lettered typography. Together with Bryant's sympathetic account, Sweet's gentle riot of images and words humanizes the man behind this ubiquitous reference work and demystifies the thesaurus itself." -- Publishers Weekly (STARRED Review)

Bryant's prose is bright and well-tuned for young readers. . . . Sweet tops herself -- again! -- visually reflecting Roget's wide range as a thinker and product of the Enlightenment. Injecting her watercolor palette with shots of teal, scarlet and fuchsia, Sweet embeds vintage bits (ledger paper, type drawers, botanical illustrations and more), creating a teeming, contemplative, playfully celebratory opus. In a word: marvelous!" -- Kirkus Reviews (STARRED Review)

"In brilliant pages teeming with enthusiasm for language and learning, Bryant and Sweet joyfully celebrate curiosity, the love of knowledge, and the power of words." -- Booklist (STARRED review)

CONNECTIONS

This would be a great book to pair with Noah Webster and His Words (2012) as an introduction to reference books that encourage a love of words and language.

Ferris, Jeri Chase. Noah Webster and His Words. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.