The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant

 

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant

        Bryant, J. (2014). The right word: Roget and his thesaurus. Eerdmans Books for Young Readers. (M. Sweet, Illustrator) ISBN 9780802853851

In Jen Bryant's book The Right Word, readers learn more about Peter Roget and his fascination with words, which led to the creation of the Thesaurus.

Learning about the creation of the Thesaurus was not a topic I ever thought I would learn about, much less be actively engaged in.  As a self-proclaimed person who does not care for history because it goes in one ear and out the other, The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus did not feel like a typical history book.  Written in a non-typical fashion, Roget and His Thesaurus felt more like reading a fiction book than a non-fiction, which is a great feature for readers who are not the biggest fans of history, like me.  Partnered with vivid and engaging visuals, Roget and His Thesaurus is a read that any reader will enjoy.

As this book is about the creation of the Thesaurus, it is easy to see why there are so many words everywhere on the pages.  These words, while not directly associated with the dialogs on the page, were associated with the illustrations and allowed the readers to slowly pick up what a thesaurus is without explicitly explaining what a thesaurus is.  An example of this is when Jen Bryant describes how Roget's first Thesaurus sold out its first thousand copies quickly.  The images on these pages are of villagers buying his book, and their dialog is normal dialog though it is loaded with synonyms such as a lady saying, "Your frock is a lovely shade of azure, violet, sapphire," or on the same page a man saying "My fish is cheap, a bargain, reasonable."  Examples of dialogs like this, makes reading more engaging, and at the end of the book, the reader has learned more than just the history of the thesaurus, they have also walked away a larger vocabulary!

The art in this book is very interesting.  I love how Melissa Sweet (the illustrator) uses lists of words in very obvious and hidden ways.  Some ways the lists are very obvious are by being in large readable fonts, such as a list for "In the Garden," where words for items in a garden were listed in Latin and English.  Hidden ways are images of words used as texture for things such as roofs and the interior of homes.  I think some pages were very busy, art wise, but it did not take away from the storyline.  

What do readers think? Sarah Hunter from Booklist Online said The Right Word:  Roget and His Thesaurus has "brilliant pages teeming with enthusiasm for language and learning [and] Bryant and Sweet ... joyfully celebrate curiosity, the love of knowledge and the power of words."  For activities that can be done after reading, readers should look at the timeline provided at the back of the book and create an illustrated timeline of Roget's life. for all major events, list the associated synonyms for said events using Roget's Thesaurus.  If you enjoyed this title, you may also enjoy reading Digging for Words by Angela Burke Kunkel, where we learn about the life of José Alberto Gutiérrez, a garbage collector from Columbia who started a library with a single discarded book he found on his route.

Some of the Awards:

• Parent's Choice Award Gold Winner (2015)
• Caldecott Honor Book (2015)
• Robert. F. Sibert Informational Book Medal (2015)
• Notable Children's Books (2015)
• Junior Library Guild Selection
• 2014 Kirkus Prize for Young Readers' Literature Finalist

Citations:

Bryant, J. (2014). The right word: Roget and his thesaurus. Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.

Hunter, S. (n.d.). Right word: Roget and his thesaurus, by Jen Bryant: Booklist online. Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus, by Jen Bryant | Booklist Online. https://www.booklistonline.com/The-Right-Word-Roget-and-His-Thesaurus-Jen-Bryant/pid=6885121

Kunkel, A. B. (n.d.). Digging for words by Angela Burke Kunkel: 9781984892638: Penguinrandomhouse.com: Books. Penguin Random House. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/604764/digging-for-words-by-angela-burke-kunkel-illustrated-by-paola-escobar/

The right word. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (2023, October 9). https://www.eerdmans.com/9780802853851/the-right-word/