Customer Reviews

The Word Circus (Lighter Side of Language)

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I never dreamt there could be a book about language that was so much fun. Richard Lederer's text truly creates a circus, complete with acrobats, clowns, animal tamers, lions, tigers--wow! Dave Morice's hilarious cartoons leap off the page and fly through the air with the greatest of ease. There must be at least 300 drawings in so many different styles that there's a surprise on every page. It's amazing that Lederer and Morice have produced a book where words and pictures interact as perfectly as they do. I've never seen this done so well before. This must be the greatest, most entertaining wordplay book of all. I hope they put together a new show soon! Encore!

I have been fortunate to have a pre-publication copy of Word Circus. This is the first time I have enjoyed my native language!

My prior reactions to composition and reading pushed me to computerdom and geekdom. Word Circus showed me our language too has those twists and relationships that I find appealing in computerdom. Richard Lederer has put together more twists and relationships in this book than a year of soap operas!

Besides, it's a hoot!

Word Circus is a wonderfully entertaining look at the English language. The cartoon illustrations are a great addition. Well worth a look if you are interested in the many different ways the English language can be used to amuse, or confuse.

It's found in the sea like pirate's loot
Cut off its tail, and now it's a fruit
Cut off its tail once more and you read
The name of a vegetable small as a seed (Lederer 116)

After reading Richard Lederer's The Word Circus you will be able to look at riddles like these and come up with the answers. The Word Circus is a fun way to become more alert to the words we use every day. Lederer makes you think about words, and he relates them to the circus. His entire book takes you through a circus; he starts with the barker who introduces the book and tells you what you should expect to see in the chapters following. He introduces you to things such as grammargrams, words that are pronounced and consistent only of letter sounds. Like the word cutie, which could be written as QT. He also talks about anagrams, beheadment, curtailment, palindromes, semordnilabs, acrobatic words, charade words and kangaroo words, all different ways to look and play with words. Lederer has fun with words and after reading his book it is easy to begin playing with words yourself. It is a great book to accompany any class studying the elements of words, or just for someone who wants to become more aware of the English language.