The Circus of Words: Acrobatic Anagrams, Parading Palindromes, Wonderful Words on a Wire, and More Lively Letter Play [Paperback]

Richard Lederer (Author), Dave Morice (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Language skills will fly through the air with the greatest of ease as kids join in The Circus of Words. Children of all ages are delighted by anagrams, palindromes, acrostics, alliteration, riddles, and puns, yet few books on wordplay are addressed to middle-schoolers. This creative and challenging activity book shows kids how to juggle letters to become ringmasters of wordplay. “The Shrinking Spotlight” shows how larger words become smaller words when certain letters are removed. “Clown Cars” introduces the idea of words hiding within words, and “The Acro Bat” and “Silver Spoonerisms” show off letter clusters that change from one word to another. The whole bandwagon is here, enabling kids, who are natural language enthusiasts, to cavort through that endless entertainment, the English language.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-This complex book will work best for those who have already had some experience with anagrams, palindromes, and other such word forms. The exercises are challenging, with lots of examples that sometimes lack clarity. The use of the circus motif to link all these activities together seems forced at times, but the chapter "The Palindromedary" works well with the exercises tied to circus animals and actions. The simple, black-and-white drawings and old-fashioned circus pictorials are static and lend little life to the text. This is a book that, in spite of itself, offers a lot of fun and challenges.

Edith Ching, St. Albans School, Mt. St. Alban, Washington, DC

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

This book offers a lot of fun and challenges. -- School Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press; 1st edition (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556523807
• ISBN-13: 978-1556523809
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,306,972 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dave Morice was born in St Louis and moved to Iowa City in 1969 to earn a degree in the University of Iowa's Writers Workshop. He has written thousands of poems, drawn thousands of cartoons, taught thousands of students, and raised one son, Danny, whom he considers the most enjoyable project of his life. In 1974, Dave painted colorful letters randomly on a white shirt, pants, shoes, cane, and tophat and turned into Dr. Alphabet, a man of letters. At the same time, he wrote concrete poems and edited Matchbook magazine under the name Joyce Holland as a literary hoax. He is currently a working staff member at Uptown Bill's Coffee House, and he is teaching at Kirkwood College. A prolific artist and writer, Dave continually seeks out new ways to create: "You can't step into the same stream of consciousness twice." He acts on his ideas for the sake of art to contribute to cultural education in the community and to express his irrepressible spirit. He has published 26 books as well as being the prime sponsor of dozens of poetry marathons, literary events, artistic happenings and Ripley's events. For more infor-mation, Google: Dr. Alphabet, Poetry Parade, Word Ways, and Kickshaws as well as Dave Morice on YouTube, Amazon and Bookfinder. Published works by Dave Morice are as follows:

- A Tourist's Guide to Computers, written & illus. by DM. Simon & Schuster
- Poetry Comics: A Cartooniverse of Poems, illus. by DM. Simon & Schuster
- More Poetry Comics: Abuse the Muse, illus. by DM. Chicago Review Press
- Poetry Comics: An Animated Anthology, illus. by DM. Teachers & Writers
- The Adventures of Dr. Alphabet: 104 Unusual Ways to Write Poetry in the
Classroom and the Community, written & illus. by DM. Teachers & Writers
- The Dictionary of Wordplay, written & illus. by DM. Teachers & Writers
- A Child's Garden of Grammar, by T. Disch, illus. by DM. U Press of New Eng.
- Poems 1971 (University of Iowa Workshop thesis), by DM. Al Buck Press
- Tilt (Poems), by DM. Toothpaste Press
- Catalog of the Wooden Nickel Art Project, ed by DM. Happy Press
- The Cutist Anthology, written & illus. by DM. Happy Press
- Crazy English, by Richard Lederer, illus. by DM, by Chicago Review Press
- Fractured English, by Richard Lederer, illus. by DM. Chicago Review Press
- Alphabet Avenue, written & illus. by DM. Chicago Review Press
- The Cunning Linguist, by Richard Lederer, illus. by DM. St Martin's Press
- The Word Circus, by Richard Lederer, illus. by DM. Merriam-Webster
- The 10th J, writen by DM, (under Joyce Holland). Toothpaste Press
- The Final E, written by DM (under Joyce Holland). X Press
- Alphabet Anthology, ed by DM (under Joyce Holland). X Press
- A Visit from St Alphabet, written & illus by DM, Coffee House Press
- Happy Birthday Handbook, written & illus, by DM, Toothpaste Press
- Dot Town, written & illus. by DM. Toothpaste Press
- Sacred Clowns Holy Fools (Poems by Steve Toth, Parodied by DM). Poetry Vortex Publishing
- The Great American Fortune Cookie Novel. written by DM and hundreds of co-authors, illustrated by Daniel J. Erusha. Sackter House Media
- Haloosa Nation. written by DM, illustrated by Danny Morice, Introduction by Joyce Holland. JoMo Publishing
- Backwords Planet (in press)
- Limerick Inferno (in press)
- The Idiot and The Oddity (in press)
- The Wooden Nickle Art Project (in press)