Word of the Week: drivel

drivel
noun
Dictionary: 1. silly nonsense. senseless or childish talk. 2. saliva, slobber or drool flowing from the mouth.
Thesaurus: 1. gibberish, rubbish, babble, blather, gobbledygook, hogwash, hoey, jabber, poppycock 2. dribble

When used as a verb:
1. to talk nonsense
2. to drool

And now our 6 year old uses the first meaning of the word in a sentence:

“I was walking down the road talking drivel. Eyeball, kyeball, wyeball, syeball.”

Poem: The Reading Mother

This is one of my favorites...

The Reading Mother
I had a mother who read to me
Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea,
Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,
"Blackbirds" stowed in the hold beneath.

I had a Mother who read me lays
Of ancient and gallant and golden days;
Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,
Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales
Of Gelert the hound of the hills of Wales,
True to his trust till his tragic death,
Faithfulness blent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things
That wholesome life to the boy heart brings —
Stories that stir with an upward touch,
Oh, that each mother of boys were such!

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be —
I had a Mother who read to me.

~ Strickland Gillilan

Silver Shoes and Ruby Slippers

There are many differences between the novel and movie versions of The Wizard of Oz. For some reason the one that stands out most for me is the silver shoes in the novel versus the ruby red slippers in the movie version. My mom says the ruby slippers were most likely designed for the movie to compliment the new wonderment of the early Technicolor movies, which makes perfect sense.

Here’s my problem. The copy of the novel I bought has an illustration of red shoes on the cover. Red shoes on the cover. Of. The. Book. To be clear, this is not one of those covers that are designed to compliment the movie version, which would then make the red shoes on the cover understandable. No, this is just a regular book cover highlighting something that is not in the novel. I don’t know why this bothers me so, but it does.

If you haven’t already, make sure you pick up your copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and join us in our April reading selection. (If the only copy available is the one with red shoes, go ahead and buy it anyway! I wouldn’t let the flaw in judgment on the illustrator’s part cloud my desire to read this fabulous book!!)

Word of the Week: cache

cache (pronounced: /kash/)
noun
Dictionary: 1. a safekeeping or hiding place for treasure, provisions, valuables, etc. 2. what is hidden in a cache.
Thesaurus: 1. hole, vault, repository, stash. 2. store, hoard, supply, reserve, stock, fund.

verb
Dictionary: put in a cache.
Thesaurus: hide, store, conceal, hoard, put or stash away.

And now our 6 year old uses it in a sentence:

"One day I had cash and I hid my cash in my cache."

And then after learning it's also a verb...

"I want to cache my cash in my cache."

Poem: If You Ever

This is a silly poem that my kids like to recite. It is taken from the book "Poems for the Very Young", selected by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Bob Graham.

If You Ever
If you ever ever ever ever ever
If you ever ever ever meet a whale
You must never never never never never
You must never never never touch its tail:
For if you ever ever ever ever ever
If you ever ever ever touch its tail,
You will never never never never never
You will never never meet another whale.

~Anon

Word of the Week: Bequeath

Bequeath
Verb
Dictionary: Leave (a personal estate) to a person by a will. Give. Hand down to posterity (heirs, offspring).
Thesaurus: will, pass on, hand down or on.

My 6 year old son will now use "bequeath" in a sentence:

"When I die, I'll bequeath my cowboy hat to my sister."