Today we have a tribute to word players and geniuses for older children (middle grade +), Alphamaniacs: Builders of 26 Wonders of the Word by Paul Fleischman and illustrated by Melissa Sweet.
Writers and poets often play with words in creative ways, but Paul Fleischman has gathered a collection of examples of people who have pushed the language envelope into other realms.
Intrigued at the possibilities? The collection includes:
- The developer of stylometry or the use of computers to analyze writing style to establish authorship for anonymous works
- A man who wrote an entire novel without using a single letter e
- An obsessive designer of fonts
- The man who created a new language called Esperanto
Plus many more.
As an added benefit , the illustrations are by the innovative Melissa Sweet. The collage mixture of art and word is its own contribution.
Fleischman has assembled an astonishing set of examples. The books is easily browsable and introduces fascinating subject matter.
Overall, Alphamaniacs is the perfect choice for mature middle graders to young adults who have a fascination with words and languages. Who knows what it might inspire from future word players.
See our full review and an activity suggestion Wrapped in Foil blog.
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