The Very Inappropriate Word

Starred review from June 3, 2013
Michael is a budding logophile: “He picked up new words at practice and downtown and even in school, where Mrs. Dixon gave the kids one new spelling word every day.” But when Michael picks up an “inappropriate” word (albeit one that grownups use with impunity) on the school bus, he can’t resist helping it go viral (“Michael could see there was something kind of bad about it. But there was also something about it that he kind of liked”). This is Tobin and Coverly’s second collaboration, after Sue MacDonald Had a Book, and they prove once again that a low-key reportorial style and perpetually surprised–looking characters are a great combination. Readers (and teachers) will especially like Coverly’s portrayal of the words as cleverly literal word balloons that Michael stashes under his bed (a “smithereens” bubble crumbles; “fling” resembles a Frisbee) or, in the case of the noxious green grawlix-filled bubble, surreptitiously shares under the playground slide. Best of all, Mrs. Dixon doesn’t quash Michael’s interest in vocabulary, instead subtly encouraging him to look past “bad” words to far more interesting ones. Ages 5–9. Agent: Melissa Chinchillo, Fletcher & Company.

June 15, 2013
Michael's love of words is celebrated in speech bubbles and comedic situations. Michael notices words everywhere, from signs on the highway to commercials on the television. At school, his teacher, Mrs. Dixon, gives the class a new spelling word every day. He saves his words in a box under his bed. Everything is fine until one day, on the school bus, he hears a new word that is "very inappropriate." Though he knows the word is bad, there is something Michael likes about the word, and he continues to share it. Soon, all the kids at school are using it. When wise Mrs. Dixon gets wind of the situation, she comes up with her own way to replace this word with something more appropriate. It's nice to see a boy (and a boy of color, no less) be so interested in words. Comic-book elements work well with Coverly's droll cartoon style, especially the frequent use of shaped speech bubbles, which give his word collection delightful physicality. Michael's eyes bulge and his ears flap, making him easy to find on the energetic pages. (His father's eyes bulge too, but in a distracting way that makes it look like he has an extra eye, something children are sure to notice.) Teachers will enjoy this amusing celebration of vocabulary and will find many ways to spur their students' imaginations into creating speech bubbles of their own. Young word lovers will have lots to peruse here. (Picture book. 4-9)

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July 1, 2013

K-Gr 2-Michael collects words. He enjoys finding new ones on signs, on TV, at baseball practice, and at school. The humorous ink and watercolor cartoon illustrations represent the words graphically-"sudsy" appears in a soap bubble, "slugger" on a baseball, etc., and help to illuminate their meanings. Michael happily collects the words until the day he hears a new one on the school bus. It is depicted as an angry-looking scribbled mess with symbols instead of letters. Michael picks up the word to add it to his collection. His older sister, however, says, "Michael! That is a very inappropriate word!" Unsure, he asks his friend what "inappropriate" means. When "Bad!" is the answer, Michael hides the word in his pocket. Suddenly aware, he hears it in more places. He cannot resist showing it to his friends at school. His kind teacher redirects him to the library and gives him the job of finding different new words. Using stacks of books with well-known titles, Michael happily gathers fascinating words such as "vibrato," "shenanigans," and "nimbus." His collection grows so large, he eventually loses track of the very inappropriate term. The only problem with this book will be in trying to keep children from sharing their own inappropriate words. For a fun storytime, pair this title with Audrey Wood's Elbert's Bad Word (Harcourt, 1988).-Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2013
Grades K-2 Michael is a word hound. He sees and hears words that he likes and collects themliterallyin a box under his bed. As illustrated by Coverly, these dialog bubbles are adorned with legs (scram), stretched wide (elastic), broken to pieces (smithereens), and more. One day on the school bus, Michael hears a large, hairy, green wordsomething akin to @#*! He is told it's inappropriate, but there is also something about it that he kind of likes. Tobin's depiction of the bad word literally being passed around from student to student is an inspired idea, and it does look rather fun ejecting that big green monstrosity out into the world. Michael gets caught, of course, but his clever teacher sics him on the school library in search of new spelling words, and once he has collected two wagon loads of cool new onesnimbus, vibrato, putrid, dragster, aerodynamiche loses track of good old @#*! Until, well, someone else digs it up. Exaggerated cartoony fun on a mostly untouched topicit's pretty @#*! good.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)