Smell the Daisies

August 1, 2019
This latest installment in the Big Words Small Stories series follows an active girl named Oleander and her laid-back pet, Sally Mander. Following the same pattern as the previous series entries (The Traveling Dustball, 2019, etc.), five small stories are preceded by a "Who's Who" section and followed by "A Small Play on Big Words." The gray-haired Sprinkle Fairy has a word factory in Sicily, where her multicolored, animate-candy helpers, the Sprinklers, "sprinkle Big Words into small places." Their appearance in an episode (along with their announcement, "Big word coming! BIG!") precipitates the appearance of a big word at the climax of the story. The stories unfold in dialogue among characters, often punctuated with acts of magic by the Sprinkle Fairy. After being used repeatedly in the story, each big word is defined at the story's end. The final "Small Play" is a skit presented by the Sprinklers in which all of the Big Words are used in context. The format makes the process of learning new vocabulary, such as "regurgitate," "flabbergasted" and "peccadillo," fun and exciting for young readers. The stories themselves are chuckleworthy, and the Big Word usage is delightful. The illustrations--small, brightly colored vignettes of characters on white space, almost like comics without the frames--are perfect for young independent readers. Oleander presents black, with two puffy pigtails, and the Sprinkle Fairy presents white. A sure win for word lovers that's also bound to create some new fans of words. (Early reader. 6-10)

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November 1, 2019

Gr 1-3-Henderson takes a clever approach to introducing children to new vocabulary. In each series title, two friends have five adventures and they encounter the Sprinkle Fairy and her helpers, the Sprinklers, and learn a new term. The Spinklers pop up enthusiastically to signal the arrival of a big word. In this installment, Oleander, a black girl with pigtails, and Sally Mander, her blue salamander, go in search of breakfast, visit a diner, learn about muscles and competition, plant daisies, and take tea with the Queen. The adventures are silly; they play off the fact that Oleander likes to keep busy while Sally Mander would prefer to take it easy. Readers learn the following words: regurgitate, attire, flabbergasted, procrastinating, and peccadillo. The words are embedded in the stories, but are random at best, varying in their common usage and in their sophistication. The definitions are succinct, but the definition for regurgitate (to burp up something that was swallowed) isn't quite complete. At the conclusion, the Sprinklers put on a short skit in which all of the words are used again. The illustrations are simple and look like comic book panels without the boxes; each page has three horizontal spaces with plenty of surrounding white space. VERDICT A playful but strictly additional way to introduce children to new words.-Sally James, South Hillsborough Elementary School, CA

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from October 1, 2019
Grades K-3 *Starred Review* More sesquipedalian slapstick arrives from the creators of The Missing Donut (2018)?this time featuring, along with a Sprinkle Fairy from Sicily ( That's where the best words in the world come from ), dark-skinned young Oleander and her blue, fly-zapping sidekick Sally Mander. In five miniadventures, the fairy forces an opportunistic early bird to REGURGITATE a hapless worm ( I'm freeeee! ) and helps Sally Mander find proper ATTIRE (including, be warned, an actual tire in place of her usual tutu) for the Hot Spot Diner. Sally Mander's weight-lifting program then leaves Oleander FLABBERGASTED, sluffing off on a gardening project brings an accusation of PROCRASTINATING, and reflexively zapping a bug at a royal tea is dismissed as a PECCADILLO by the Queen. Each big word gets a small definition at its chapter's end, and all are recombined at the close into a literal Play On Words starring several of McBeth's cartoon figures, including that frazzled worm. Following an introductory who's-who, the text turns all-dialogue throughout, and is scattered in short, chewy bits among each chapter's simply-drawn, open-bordered sequential scenes. This latest in the Big Words, Small Stories series is a delight for early readers. Tasty treats for logophiles, and not just those in lower grades.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)