Wordplay abounds in the delightfully madcap and meta The Dictionary Story by the first-rate duo behind A Child of Books, Sam Winston and Oliver Jeffers. The story opens with a cerulean dictionary that stands apart from the other books. The books, all grouped together lined up with spines out, "knew what they were about," but Dictionary "was never quite sure of herself." She was filled with words, after all, but she didn't have a story to tell.
One day, Dictionary decides to take matters into her own hands and set some words free. A hungry alligator breaks through a list of words on an "A" page. The alligator makes a beeline for the donut in the "D" pages. Along the way, chaos ensues as they collide with an unassuming ghost, a cloud, a puddle, the moon, Queen, a tornado who throws a tantrum, and more. Finally Dictionary, who is dismayed that "nothing was in the right place or even making sense," calls on her friend Alphabet to help tidy things up.
The authors' imaginative humor shines in text-heavy dictionary pages punctuated by the appearance of the alphabet-inspired creatures, illustrated in Jeffers's distinctive naïve style. His saturated colors stand out on the dictionary's sepia-toned pages as the characters begin to dominate the spreads and eventually walk on columns of text, as if performing on a stage of words. The joy is in the details in this story meant for misfits: readers who take their time turning the pages will find plenty of gifts in the tiny print. This playful celebration of language is sure to delight word lovers of all ages. --Julie Danielson, reviewer