Word Wizard

Using her magical spoon to make new words by changing letters around, Anna embarks on a series of adventures with a lost little boy.

Using her magical spoon to make new words by changing letters around, Anna embarks on a series of adventures with a lost little boy.

After a multi-decade career of stimulating readers to appreciate and laugh at the glories and oddities of our English language, beloved language maven Richard Lederer has collected his very best and most popular pieces in Word Wizard. In this career-capping anthology the reader will find essays that enlighten, inspire, and tickle the funny bone. From his hilarious bloopers to his hymns of praise to the English language, these essays are the brightest gems of a storied career. Word Wizard includes a new introduction, prefaces for each essay, sprightly verse, and material never before published in Leader's language books. With classic chapters such as "The World According to Student Bloopers," "English Is a Crazy Language," and "The Case for Short Words," and shiny new essays such as "The Way We Word" and "Add Wealth to Your Vocabulary," Word Wizard is sure to delight language lovers and Lederer fans everywhere.

Incorporate writing instruction in your classroom as an essential element of literacy development while implementing best practices. Simplify the planning of writing instruction and become familiar with the Common Core State Standards of Writing.

In this enchanting book, readers discover how prefixes and suffixes can change the meanings of words before their eyes! Guided by the Word Wizard, readers learn to create new words by combining root words with prefixes and suffixes. Discover how these spell-binding syllables can help unlock the meanings of new words.

We use adjectives to describe and compare the things in our world. In this spellbinding book, the Word Wizard reveals the secrets of the magical world of adjectives, including synonyms, antonyms, and comparisons. Readers will discover the nuances of language as they look closely at adjectives that vary in intensity and those with closely related meanings. Writing prompts guide readers as they use adjectives to add detail and clarity.

Poems chosen by John Foster. John's poetry anthologies present children with original and contemporary poetry, proving that poetry is both accessible and fun!