About The Book

As seen on TikTok: the viral children's book sensation beloved by kids of all ages. Learn and remember the definitions of words like felicity, truculent, and vacillate with the help of funny stories and beautiful illustrations.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, one big word, correctly used, is worth numerous little words. The big words in this book—one for each letter of the alphabet—have been selected not only for their frequency in the written language, but also for their sound. In every instance, the word has more than one syllable and the sound of the word lends itself to a pun.

The stories in the book are, as you will see, suggested by the pun. Although the stories are fanciful, they lead to the correct meaning of the words. By recalling the story and the concluding pun, children ought to remember what each word means. The stories and the puns, therefore, serve as memory hooks and encourage children to increase their vocabulary by forming their own mnemonics for any new words they encounter.

About The Authors

Paul M. Levitt teaches in the department of English at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is also the author of Chin Music: A Novel of the Jazz Age and numerous books for younger readers and scholars.

Douglas A. Burger (1937–2024) was associate professor of English at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Elissa S. Guralnick is professor of English, College of Music, at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

About The Illustrator

Janet Stevens is a Caldecott Honor–winning artist who has written, adapted, or illustrated numerous award-winning books for children, including And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon (Child Magazine Best Children's Book List, 2001), Tops & Bottoms (Caldecott Honor Book and Disney NAPPA Book from LA Parent), and The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Parents Choice Award).

Product Details

Raves and Reviews

"Each of these twenty-six short stories takes an elaborate, circuitous path that leads to a 'weighty' one-word punch line. . . . It's a creative and humorous approach to vocabulary building, and a natural lead in to having students create their own tall tales with multisyllabic conclusions."

School Library Journal

"[The Weighty Word Book] will appeal to kids who want to sound as smart as they are. It offers a clever, funny way to introduce new words into the vocabulary. . . . There's one word for every letter of the alphabet--wait until you see what they do with dogmatic, juxtapose and zealot."

The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colorado)

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