The Word Spy

by Ursula Dubosarsky

Dear Readers,

You may not know me, but I know you. I am - the WORD SPY.

Ever since I can remember, I've been listening to, speaking, reading, and yes, spying on words. The time has come for me to share with you some of the many things I have discovered. All you have to do is open this book... the wonderful world of words awaits!

Join the Word Spy on an entertaining journey through the English language. Learn more about where the alphabet came from, find out what ATM stands for, make your own palindromes (it's easy!) and impress your pigs by speaking Pig Latin. There are cartoons, riddles and a special code to solve along the way.

Genres: Nonfiction, Language, Childrens, Middle Grade, Reference, Education, Writing

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Ursula Dubosarsky is an award-winning author of numerous books for children and young adults. About The Golden Day, her first book with Candlewick Press, she says, "The little girls watch, wonder, respond, change, and grow — and then their childhood is gone, forever. This element of the story, I suppose, is at least partly autobiographical. But, as I say — all of our teachers come home safe and sound in the end." Ursula Dubosarsky lives in Australia.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

So Ursula Dubosarsky’s 2007 The Word Snoop might indeed get better and less replete with factual linguistic (as well as historical) errors as her text progresses. However, I am not feeling at all patient today and after repeatedly having to read in the introductory section of The Word Snoop, after oh so often being confronted with and by Dubosarsky’s assertion in How it all began that the Angles, Saxons and Jutes supposedly all hailed from Germany and spoke German, I have decided to quit.

Yes, Ms. Dubosarsky, what is now England was indeed invaded (not visited, but invaded) by the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, but at that time (in the very early Middle Ages), there was of course NOT YET a Germany as Germany as a country actually would not even exist until 1871 (and to call from where the Angles, Saxons and Jutes hailed Germany is thus both factually wrong and even rather majorly ridiculous, since many of those specific areas are in fact not even part of Germany proper now anyhow). Also, calling the Angles, Saxons and Jutes Germans instead of Germanic tribes really does tend to make me feel more than a bit uncomfortable, because in the 1930s, Adolf Hitler equally tried to label the English as being German and as such of course also part of his so-called master race.

Finally and furthermore, with regard to Anglo-Saxon as a language, while it is of course considered a Western Germanic tongue, related to Dutch and German, NO linguist actually worth his or her salt would ever consider Anglo-Saxon as being German and vice versa (since they are related languages, related dialects, but not the same, with indeed, Anglo-Saxon in fact being considerably closer to modern Friesian than to modern German). And while I perhaps should consider continuing with The Word Snoop, sorry, but I do tend to get majorly annoyed at blatant errors in non fiction (and especially so in non fiction geared towards younger readers) and yes, both the frustrating errors encountered in the first section of The Word Snoop and that Ursula Dubosarsky has also not bothered with a bibliography, this has definitely and certainly made me abandon The Word Snoop and to only consider but one star as a rating.

[Abby · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book got great reviews, and is about one of my favorite topics, the history of the English language, so I was excited to read it. But I found it incredibly disappointing - I HATE it when authors of children's nonfiction books insert millions of little asides in parentheses, with exclamation points. To my mind, it's disrespectful of the intelligence of the intended audience; the subject matter of this book is intriguing without trying to drum up false enthusiasm with lots of exclamation points! Really! Not necessary!

[Cheryl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Annoying style. Talks at the young reader in a sort of overly cosy, almost twee voice. Reminds me of nothing so much as the proverbial cheek-pinching aunts.

I do like the page of Anglo-Saxon words; since it can be argued that those are our most valuable words, the ones that speak to universal themes, it makes sense for the author to suggest that we make a poem from them. Here's a link to an online list, more extensive, and with some in context: https://knowyourlondon.wordpress.com/...

Ok done.

Yeah, too many hints for the puzzles... they would have been fun, if easy, otherwise...
Tone too forced / awkward all through.
Lots of interesting bits... but covered a bit superficially. Read this when you're seven, as a primer for the good stuff?

Or, actually, don't, until you can filter what's just for fun and what needed to be, but wasn't, fact-checked. See the review from Manybooks.

[CanadianReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Word Snoop is an engaging, fairly light inquiry into the idiosyncrasies of the English language, its many influences and infusions from various cultures--which to some extent accounts for the numerous inconsistencies in spelling.(According to Dubosarsky, operators of early printing presses were another big contributor.)

Dubosarsky also explores word games, acronyms, puns, spoonerisms, and many other ways that people play with language.

I don't see this book as being universally appealing to children. It is certainly a good read for adults who want to dip into the history of the language (although the author's "word snoop" persona does grate after a bit), and it would likely interest an older, word-curious child or young adult.

To her credit, Dubosarsky invites her readers to experiment with language, and many of the activities she suggests throughout could be tried out in a classroom.

[Kristin Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this book. It gave a brief, interesting history of the English language and then went on to describe and demonstrate many fun word concepts, like onomatopoeia, mondegreens, Tom Swifties, homophones, spoonerisms, palindromes, tautologies, etc. The book is meant for an elementary audience, so I didn't gain much from it. I felt like the author could have given us more, but I don't know what the book was actually lacking, so maybe I am just too old and word nerdy to appreciate it.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

We were recently informed by our six year old that it is just not fair that he has to learn to read English. "English is weird and hard and everything is different in different words!" he complained. Oh, it's true, little man. We're sorry. We should totally be Spaniards.

We did, however, try to explain that we are endowing him with one of the most versatile, descriptive languages on the planet. His 8-year-old brother was similarly pissed off about the inconsistencies of English when he was learning to read. But now he likes it. For example, he was utterly charmed by this book, which presents our language as a fascinating compendium of mysteries, stories, and tricks.

The Word Snoop speaks directly to inquisitive children in this tour of pangrams, palindromes, interrobangs, spoonerisms, leetspeak, backronyms and mondegreens. Ms. Dubosarsky is clearly a fan of the eccentric, acrobatic English language, and is a dab hand with an anecdote, recommending that readers try to find a recording of Lead Belly singing "The Pig Latin Song." She explains how to make portmanteau words, challenges the reader to solve - and create - word puzzles, lists a few great tongue twisters, celebrates rhyming slang, and so much more.

[Amanda Jeffery · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing frolic through the history of language. I use this in my classroom CONSTANTLY. Children love it and they learn so much. I have a literacy unit based around this book and The Return of the Word Spy. My children don't realise they are learning boring old grammar because it is so much fun. There are so many interesting things to study and I have found that once the children have read this book they are able to use their learning to relate to other books. In my class last year we study The Word Spy and then The Phantom Tollbooth. All of the children commented that they appreciated the writing style of The Phantom Tollbooth much more. My principal was quite confused when my class began talking about portmanteau words, tautologies, backronyms and mondegreens!

[Allegra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was like a texbook. There was no storyline, and no characters. It just taught me everythimg there is to know about words and thing that have to do with them. Things like languages, alphabets, puncuation, acronyms, puns, the history of words, and much more. I learned a lot from this book. For example, the word laser is an acronym. Laser means Light Amplifacation by Stimulating Emission of Radiation. The book also had some secret codes to decipher, so it wasn't all facts and history. The Word Snoop was a very fun book to read and I would give a strong recommendation to whoever reads my review

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

As interesting for adults as it is for kids. I even learned several things I didn't know! It is a delightful romp through the English language. The author is Australian, but the book works perfectly fine for US English (and, I assume, Canadian English & UK English). She begins with the history of the alphabet, and continues with the vagaries of spelling and punctuation. Then she covers a variety of other topics, including anagrams, pangrams, acronyms, backronyms, palindromes, oxymorons, Pig Latin, puns, mondegreens, onomatopoeia, and more. She takes a humorous approach to the subject, and includes brief quizzes along the way. This was a 5-star, slam-dunk for me.

[Flick Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best most entertaining book I've come across on the English language - great for kids but for anyone really. History of the language, but also lots of little bits and pieces. Quite passionate book. Interesting illustrator too I must say - the pics really light up the page. I'm also buying a class set.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The perfect book for word nerds like me! Interesting background on the English language, and the last bit about text messages and how, really, they're extensions of how our language has evolved anyway, is a thought-provoking response to those who say our written language will die out due to txt. :)

[Yara · Rating 5 out of 5]

For years, my children have asked me questions about the English language that I haven't been able to answer. This fun and clever book answered so many of those questions!

[BellaN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. Very quirky

[Parker Burden · Rating 2 out of 5]

The information was interesting, but the snarky writing style drove me crazy.

[Kirsten Teng · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LIKE THIS BOOK

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I remember reading these books when I was in about Grade 4 or 5. I loved them so much! They're super informative and entertaining!

[Analise Powell · Rating 1 out of 5]

i did not like this book one bit. it was long and boring and hard to understand

[Connie N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book to be quite interesting, with plenty of descriptions and explanations about various parts of the English language. I don't mean grammar, but expressions and phrases, such as euphemisms, tautology, Spoonerisms, oxymorons, etc., all the way up to the texting of today. Not only did she describe them so a child could understand what they are, but she also included the origin of the words themselves and how these types of phrases came about, which is what I found fascinating as an adult. For instance, I didn't know that Tom Swifties were from a series of books from the 1950's or that a Mondegreen is a misheard word because in 1954 a woman misheard "And the Lady Mondegreen" as "And they laid him on the green." Spooner was a real teacher in the early 20th century who misspoke, mixing up the initial consonants of words. And Old English didn't use punctuation at all or even put spaces between words. There was plenty of interesting information (although one reviewer said that some of the history was inaccurate). In any case, this was a fun and quick read, although I did think there were too many asides (where the author added a cutesie remark in parantheses). Overall, this was a quick and fun read. Educational, too!

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my Goodreads friends brought this book to my attention, and the title and book blurb were enough to pique my interest. I didn’t realize, though, that the book is intended for children and not adults, so I had to adjust my thinking a bit, and it probably would have been better to read the book rather than listen to it.

For a relatively short book, there was a lot of information presented, from the development of the first alphabet to definitions and examples of palindromes, anagrams and more. There were riddles and a code to decipher, although I’ll admit I did not take the time to solve it.

I found the writing itself to be rather simplistic, but that’s probably because I (as an adult) am not the intended audience. If kids read this book, they might be more receptive to the author’s style.

[Sam Dove · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Word Snoop by Ursula Dubosarsky is a quirky and engaging book for anyone who loves language and words. The book is structured as a series of short stories about different people and their relationships with language. Each story is like a small window into someone’s life, and the stories are woven together to create a picture of the rich and diverse ways that language is used and appreciated.

One of the things I loved about this book is the way it celebrates the joy of language. From the excitement of discovering a new word to the pleasure of hearing a well-crafted sentence, the author makes it clear that language is not just a tool for communication, but a thing of beauty in its own right. The book is also full of interesting facts and trivia about language, which add an extra layer of fascination for language geeks like myself.

[FJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written for kids in grade 5-8. But as English is my second language (while Chinese is my first), this book was a super fun read. I really enjoyed reading and learning all of the information concerning the history of alphabet, the exceptions of spellings, the puns and all the fun -isms appearing in the English language, many of which I am already familiar with but never know either their name or the history.

The writing style was full of humor and the word games provided by the author was also very fun. And the illustrator did a great job as well.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this mis-shelved in the adult non-fiction section of my library, and took it home anyway.

I've read too many of this sort of book and so didn't feel like I learned much. I did learn about the "interrobang" a punctuation mark invented by Martin K. Speckter in 1962. It is especially for times when you want to use a question mark and an exclamation point all at once.

I think the author would have used the interrobang throughout the book if she could have. Her writing style was annoyingly chirpy and overly silly, perhaps in an attempt to keep children engaged!?

[Beth Nolan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited about this book, although it was written for a younger audience. I did enjoy some parts ("The Contents" and being reminded of mondegreens); yet rolled my eyes at several other parts "(Dear Readers" and the "Secret Message"). Much of it was a little too basic/elementary even for elementary readers; when not basic, it seemed like maybe a little too much for elementary readers - so that may be more my problem, not the author's. The idea was good - to present the nuances of the English language - but it seemed a little weak in the delivery.

[!! · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the literal full grown adults reviewing this need to get their heads on straight. This isn't for you.

Best book ever. Read it at five and it's never left my mind. Changed my life. Thank you Ursula. No my review isn't biased and nostalgia has no bearing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Furthermore, what is The Word Snoop?? I don't claim it and don't like it. Why can't Americans be exposed to s*y as a concept? Are they too delicate

[Alitsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I perused the Word Snoop by Ursula Dubosarsky, I found myself smiling quite often. This book makes the English Lanuage come alive and the added puzzles and codes make it all the more interesting. I learned so much from this book that I'd been wondering about for years, especially on how we got the different types of plurals we have today and silent letters. Ursula certainly made this a wonderful, exciting, informational book!

[Tobi · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting yet odd book. It doesn't seem to know who it's audience is... some of the content is relatively adult in it's imparted information but then some aspects, such as the humour and some stylistic aspects are seemingly aimed at a much younger audience?
Whilst enjoyable and informative I wish it could have settled on the audience one way or the other.

[Jessica]

I checked this out for S. because she was asking lots of questions about the history of English, but I ended up reading it too. Some of it was familiar, but there were lots of fun facts about words, punctuation, etc., shared in a fun and engaging way. One or two of the short chapters made excellent bedtime reading — interesting, but didn’t keep me up too late.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading it to my 6 year old who has reissued it for the last few month's from the school library. Once we finally got round to starting it we found it to be lots of fun, especially deciphering the secret code at the end of each chapter. It was written in 2008 so the final chapter needed me to dig out an old cell phone!

[Sean Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book for people of all ages showing the English language in history and in the different ways we use words. Complete with puzzles, activities and much to learn even for seasoned English speakers. A great book!

[thefourthvine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, admittedly, this is not what I was hoping it would be, since I got it for me. But it is a good, solid summary of some of the more interesting aspects of the English language, and I’m definitely giving it to my kid.