Customer Reviews

Ounce, Dice, Trice

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of my favorite books, all about words - some real, taken out of context, and listed by categories, like: "Light Words" (lissom, sibilant, nimble...), "Names for Elephants" (Wilbur, Bendigo, Wendell Tubb, Deuteronomy...), etc. Other words are completely invented and defined such as "a GONGOZZLER is an idle person who is always stopping in the street and starting at a curious object like a TINGLE-AIREY." The illustrations by Ben Shahn are also wonderful. Great fun to read aloud, and likely to lead to imaginative family word play!

Pair this with Richard Wilbur's Opposites, More Opposites, and a Few Differences.

I had this book as a I kid and I'm thrilled that it's still around. It's meant as a children's book, but I remember all the adults in our household loved it as well. It uses language in the style of Ogden Nash to give odd names to common things. It lists large-sounding names for elephants and matching names for twins. It has it's own style of counting that goes "ounce, dice, trice, quartz, quince, etc." Any child who lovers word play will love this book.

My favorite pick for holiday gift-giving, appealing for wordlovers of all ages, is the New York Review of Books Classics reissue of poet Alastair Reed's OUNCE DICE TRICE. NYRB are great curators and always choose wonderful old treasures to reissue, and this is no exception. Plus the books themselves are of such high quality that they will be sure to be loved for many more years to come.

OUNCE DICE TRICE is an exuberant exploration of words - real, imaginary, sense and nonsense - and will be great for young fans of Silverstein and Seuss, as well as the writer, poet, teacher or librarian in your life.

I got this as a gift when I was 8 in 1958 and I have treasured it ever since. Great fun playing with language, and not just for kids. It opened up the possiblity that our language is not just a given, but can be expanded and altered as needed. And that there are many things in the world not yet noticed and not yet named. Many years later, the novel Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin became an excellent and more advanced source on this theme.

Great to read with kids...they learn while laughing at the different, funny words along with the pictures. Brings excitement to the pages and unleashes their imagination with humor.

After hearing of this book on NPR I purchased it for my three grandsons and we had a delightful time reading it aloud. Even though die hard children of the internet, they were intrigued by the wordplay. However, it must be read aloud to enjoy it to the fullest.

I remember this book from my childhood. My mother used to read it to me and teach me to read. I could only ever remember one line from the book: " Ram Tam Gee Pickagee is feeling good"

Having a copy of the book is like finding an old friend on facebook.

This is a book to read aloud to small children, and to have the older brothers and sisters take over reading aloud to the younger ones. They will all surely fall in love with words and the sounds of words, even nonsense words !

Gave this to children, parents, and a school volunteer. So far,a neighbor child was thrilled. He came over with a hand-made picture for his thank-you.

If you have children or grandchildren (great grandchildren?) and love words, be certain to get them a copy. You might want an extra for yourself. "A veritable joy to read it is.", quoth Yoda. I think so as well.