By Bianca Schulze, The Children's Book Review
Published: May 18, 2009
Birds of a Feather: A Book of idioms and Silly Pictures: Vanita Oelschlager
by Vanita Oelschlager (Author), Robin Hegan (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 4-9
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Vanitabooks (April 1, 2009)
What to expect: Idioms, Humor
Birds of a Feather is a brilliant book with a purpose: to introduce children to idioms. Oelschlager and Hegan have done an excellent job of helping children understand some very absurd idioms. Each idiom is illustrated with the literal version, then the objective is to guess the "real" interpretation of the phrase. The answers are provided upside down in the corner of each double page spread. Young children are very literal thinkers and it's hard for them to grasp abstract concepts. This book manages to show the absolute silliness that comes about from certain sentences, and gently shows children that some words, when put together, can have very different meanings. Humor, when done correctly, can be one of the most effective ways to teach a child something new -- this duo have their humor "on the nose"!
Publisher's synopsis: Children are innately curious about words, especially phrases that make them laugh ("Ants in your pants!"), sound silly ("Barking up the wrong tree" or "Goosebumps") or trigger images that tickle a child's sense of the absurd ("Like a bull in a china shop"). Birds of a Feather introduces children to the magic of idioms words that separately have one meaning, but together take on something entirely different. Birds of a Feather introduces idioms with outlandish illustrations of what the words describe literally. The reader then has to guess the "real" meaning of the phrases (which is upside down in the corner of each spread). At the end of the book, the reader is invited to learn more about these figures of speech.
Add this book to your collection: Birds of a Feather: A Book of idioms and Silly Pictures: Vanita Oelschlager
NOTE: I also enjoyed Vanita Oelschlager's book Ivy in Bloom.
