Review of The Return of the Word Spy
A fun-filled guide to language and grammar could inspire a new generation of writers.
It's very nice, I think, that I wasn't taught English grammar at school. "Nice" as in "stupid", which The Return of the Word Spy claims was once the meaning of this usually insipid little word. The lively pages of this hardcover treasure, a sequel to the NSW Premier's Award-winning The Word Spy, are filled with such surprising information about words and language. It's a book I wish I'd had the pleasure of reading at the age of 10 or thereabouts (yet still enjoyed a couple of decades later).
The Word Spy books began as a regular column in The School Magazine (a long-running NSW Education Department publication) and educators and young readers have warmly embraced them. Perhaps the only complaint about the first book, which focused on the history of words and various linguistic oddities, was that it didn't cover the ins and outs of grammar. This is quite interesting in light of the government's planned national curriculum, the draft of which, released earlier this year, emphasises the importance of teaching English grammar. It seems they're on the right track there.
Perhaps more worthy of debate is not whether but how grammar should be taught. The answer might be: ask Ursula Dubosarsky. Why? Because in The Return of The Word Spy, she presents grammar - the function of nouns, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions and so on - as something accessible, inclusive and fun. She turns a potentially dry subject into joyous and engrossing content. What better way to teach and learn?
Providing a great support are illustrations by Tohby Riddle, which, like Dubosarsky's writing, are humorous, remarkably concise and informative. Riddle's illustration of grammar is perfect; a line of people on stage, each saying one word in a sentence and wearing a shirt labelled according to what kind of word they've said. This image, with the chatty, second-person style of the writing, emphasises that, while rules apply, words and sentences can be played with, thrown about fearlessly and made to work in different ways. It's a liberating message - one that could conceivably inspire a new generation of writers and word lovers.
The section on grammar is just part of what's on offer, with more than 100 sub-chapters exploring everything from braille to the tower of Babel, pidgin to pens and pencils. Some ideas are complex (but still made easy to comprehend for young readers), with Socrates and Noam Chomsky even rating a mention or two. A section on "dead words" may give teachers reason to whingle while they swink (that is, complain while they work), as the Word Spy challenges readers to insert some dead words into the next story they write.
Published in Sydney Morning Herald on June 26, 2010.
It's very nice, I think, that I wasn't taught English grammar at school. "Nice" as in "stupid", which The Return of the Word Spy claims was once the meaning of this usually insipid little word. The lively pages of this hardcover treasure, a sequel to the NSW Premier's Award-winning The Word Spy, are filled with such surprising information about words and language. It's a book I wish I'd had the pleasure of reading at the age of 10 or thereabouts (yet still enjoyed a couple of decades later).
The Word Spy books began as a regular column in The School Magazine (a long-running NSW Education Department publication) and educators and young readers have warmly embraced them. Perhaps the only complaint about the first book, which focused on the history of words and various linguistic oddities, was that it didn't cover the ins and outs of grammar. This is quite interesting in light of the government's planned national curriculum, the draft of which, released earlier this year, emphasises the importance of teaching English grammar. It seems they're on the right track there.
Perhaps more worthy of debate is not whether but how grammar should be taught. The answer might be: ask Ursula Dubosarsky. Why? Because in The Return of The Word Spy, she presents grammar - the function of nouns, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions and so on - as something accessible, inclusive and fun. She turns a potentially dry subject into joyous and engrossing content. What better way to teach and learn?
Providing a great support are illustrations by Tohby Riddle, which, like Dubosarsky's writing, are humorous, remarkably concise and informative. Riddle's illustration of grammar is perfect; a line of people on stage, each saying one word in a sentence and wearing a shirt labelled according to what kind of word they've said. This image, with the chatty, second-person style of the writing, emphasises that, while rules apply, words and sentences can be played with, thrown about fearlessly and made to work in different ways. It's a liberating message - one that could conceivably inspire a new generation of writers and word lovers.
The section on grammar is just part of what's on offer, with more than 100 sub-chapters exploring everything from braille to the tower of Babel, pidgin to pens and pencils. Some ideas are complex (but still made easy to comprehend for young readers), with Socrates and Noam Chomsky even rating a mention or two. A section on "dead words" may give teachers reason to whingle while they swink (that is, complain while they work), as the Word Spy challenges readers to insert some dead words into the next story they write.
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