Author: KATrowbridge

KAT is a librarian at the British School of Abu Dhabi where her British colleagues tolerate her Americanisms pretty well. She is a graduate of Rutgers University's Master of Information program, has a Juris Doctorate from Marquette University, is an attorney (formerly with the U.S. Government), and was formerly an Administrative Law Judge with the State of Arizona. At last check, she had a husband, three kids, a dog, and a serious book buying addiction. She lives in Abu Dhabi, UAE, with a subset of them. @LibraryKATinAD

Copyright explained

From Sidebar Saturdays, here is a primer on Copyright in the US.

Click the photo to see SS’s original post.https://www.sidebarsaturdays.com/2021/01/16/https-wp-me-p7vddb-nz/

“When can others use a copyright-protected character without permission?

Fair Use

While copyright law grants authors a monopoly over the use of their work, there are situations where that right is significantly limited if it falls within the fair use exception. Courts use a fact-specific test with four factors when making a fair use determination.

To determine if an infringing work falls within the fair use exception, courts weigh these four factors:

  1. The purpose and character of the use;
  2. The nature of the copyrighted work;
  3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used; and
  4. The effect on the market of the copyrighted work.

While all factors are not equally important in every case, all should be considered when making a determination if the defense of fair use might apply to the use of copyright-protected work in question. When it comes to using copyright-protected characters, factors 1 & 4 are the most important.

Normally, the first factor involves the use of the copyright-protected material for criticism, comment, news reporting, and teaching which are all strong fair use factors. Factor one also covers the use of the copyright-protected material for parody, satire, and derivative work that is transformative (i.e., the original is transformed by adding new things to the work). The more transformative a work, the less important the other factors are, and the stronger the fair use claim becomes. In addition to the above, courts also look at whether the use is commercial or non-commercial. For most writers, the use of a copyright-protected character for new creative work will almost certainly be for commercial purposes, which weakens your claim of fair use.

Factor four is viewed with the impact on the market for the original characters. If the effect on the market value of the original content is minimal, say like fan fiction offered for free (see below), then your fair use claim is stronger. But if the use of a copyright-protected character cuts into an author’s market, any claim to fair use quickly disappears.

If you intend to rely on fair use when using a copyright-protected character, do your homework. It would be a huge hassle to find out in court you could play your get-out-of-jail-free card.

De Minimis Use

If the amount of material copied from the character is small enough, the court may permit the use without conducting a fair use analysis. There is no clear line test for de minimis use. Courts review each use on a case-by-case basis to determine if enough of the copyrighted work has been used to reach copyright infringement. If someone’s character makes a cameo appearance in your work or you mentioned the character in passing, most likely the use is de minimis and permitted.

Some authors are extremely protective of their characters (like the litigious Estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) and are known to sue if their characters are used in any way without their permission. Do your research on the author. Find out if others have used the author’s characters and if the use ended with legal repercussions. Then decide for yourself if the use of the copyright-protected character is worth the risk.

Public Domain

Public domain is a legal term and a fairly detailed area of law that refers to creative materials not protected by intellectual property laws (i.e., copyright, trademark, or patent). In general, when creative work enters the public domain, the public owns it and anyone can use it without securing permission. Once the work is in the public domain, no one owns it.

When does a character enter the public domain?

The law is somewhat confusing but generally, there are four ways a character becomes public domain material.

  1. Characters published before January 1, 1923, are in the public domain due to copyright expirations.
  2. Characters published between 1923 and 1977 enter the public domain 95 years after their first publication date (so characters published in 1923 entered the public domain as of January 1, 2019). Two additional possibilities exist for characters published in this time bracket to enter the public domain:
    1. If a character was published before 1964 and the copyright owner failed to renew the copyright; or
    2. If a character was published before 1978 without a proper copyright notice.
  3. Characters created after 1977 enter the public domain 70 years after the creator’s death. Characters created by a corporation enter the public domain either 95 years after publication or 120 years after creation, whichever comes first.
  4. The copyright owner dedicated the character to the public domain.

Two additional caveats:

Just because a character’s copyright has expired does not automatically mean the character is in the public domain. Some characters are protected under trademark laws too (see below). While copyrights do not last forever, trademarks do as long as the owner continues to use the trademark property in commerce.

There are plenty of great characters in the public domain from stories like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Little Mermaid, Rapunzel, Snow White, Aladdin, Sinbad, and Ebenezer Scrooge. If a character you want to use is in the public domain, make sure the version you use is not a modern depiction created by someone else or the author, like with the emotional Sherlock Holmes (which may have been a stretch in my opinion), or the monster from Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein (which is in the public domain). Shelley’s Frankenstein is much different from the Frankenstein created by Universal (which is not in the public domain). Mary Shelley did not write about a green-skinned, flat-topped, bolts-in-the-neck monster.

Fan Fiction

Popular books, movies, or cable shows often inspire devoted fans to write their own fictional stories about beloved characters, settings, or plots. These works, known as fan fiction, are works of fiction with new adventures, reimagined worlds, and creative relationship pairings for their favorite characters. While fan fiction is a popular means for fans to creatively express their admiration for an author’s work and connect with the characters they love, it is technically still copyright infringement.

Fan fiction thrives because some authors choose to allow it. Creators of original content have always been divided on how to handle fan fiction. Responses have ranged from indifference, appreciation, and encouragement, to flat-out opposition. Authors like Neil Gaiman have no objection to fan fiction as long as people are not commercially exploiting his characters. Stephanie Meyer approves of fan fiction and has a list of fan fiction sites on her website. Other authors embrace fan fiction but with limitations. J.K. Rowling and George Lucas will not tolerate pornographic fan fiction about their characters. While other authors like Orson Scott Card and Anne Rice, who once opposed fan fiction entirely, have softened their stance over time and now tolerate it.

If the characters and stories of an author passionately move you to write fan fiction, make sure your fictional stories are legally compliant and follow an author’s wishes. A little up-front work will protect you in the long run.  If you need more information about fan fiction, see my earlier article: The World of Fan Fiction – Where Creative Expression and Copyright Collide.

Stock Characters

For those characters that lack distinctiveness and seem common, feel free to pilfer, embellish, and use as inspiration for your own version.

Trademarks

Trademark law protects consumers by helping them reliably identify the source of a good or service so there is no likelihood of confusion. Typically trademarks are usually logos, slogans, and business names, but trademarks also include characters provided the character is used with goods or services (like a logo, sticker, or toy packaging). The trademark must be used in connection with the use or sale of goods or services. Trademarks, unlike copyrights, do not expire as long as the owner continues to use the mark in commerce.

When does a fictional character merit trademark protection?

If the character has acquired secondary meaning then trademark protection applies, which is another way of saying the character’s name and/or graphical representation is sufficiently well known that the public would associate the character with an author or corporation – like Jack Reacher, Harry Potter, Mickey Mouse, or any of the various Marvel characters.

Fair Use

Like with copyrights, a writer can assert a trademark fair use defense. There are two types:

  1. Descriptive Fair Use permits the use of another’s trademark to describe the user’s products or services, rather than as a trademark to indicate the source of the products or services.
  2. Nominative Fair Use permits the use of another’s trademark to refer to the trademark owner’s actual goods and services associated with the mark.

Basically, remember that mentioning a trademark protected character like Harry Potter in your book will not land you in litigation, nor will using the name Harry Potter to refer to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Theme Park. But should you use the name Harry Potter to run an unauthorized festival celebrating the J.K. Rowling series, then prepare for litigation.”

by KATrowbridge

Quarantine Tips from the Front (of my house)

Welcome to my lair.  It is actually the Majlis (family room/office/meeting place) now converted into my bedroom.  Since my Dear Husband (DH), a physician, received a positive diagnosis for Covid19 early this week, it has also been to where I am exiled.

IMG_1658.JPG
-Venus in a face mask?

No worries for his health though at this time.  He is asymptomatic.  While he usually does minor procedures (biopsies and similar under imaging guidance), he is trained as a Body Radiologist.  So ostensibly he could work from home, given a strong/fast enough internet connection.  At present, most radiology is cancelled and his staff is able to carry on without him so he has immersed himself in adminis-trivia while waiting the virus out.

Because we are so fortunate in our current quarantine at home situation without a sick person, I thought I might share a few ideas that we have happened upon as a family.  If, God/s forbid, you find yourself working on setting up a quarantine situation at home, here are some hopefully helpful ideas.

  1. It made most sense to give our master bedroom over to quarantine.  It is much easier to clean a bed than a couch or pull out sofa.  The sheets can we washed on hot, the hard surfaces wiped down with Clorox wipes, the mattress flipped.  Since time is the ultimate disinfectant, flipping our mattress when this is over will be the second best option (the first being buying a new bed and we are not interested in doing that).  Also, of all your rooms, the master is the most likely to have its own bathroom.  Which leads to #2.
  2. Our master bathroom was donated to the big Q effort.  Not everyone will have that luxury.  In our Muslim majority area, bathrooms are usually NOT shared and even maids room have their own.  Our majlis has its own bathroom so it wasn’t difficult to abandon ours to DH.
  3. Our master bath also became a make shift kitchen of sorts.  It turns our the infected still have to eat and the issue became what to do with the dishes.  For the moment, we are trying to use up our disposable delivery products.  But flatware is superior to plasticware by far.  So we distributed him a small jar of dish soap and a fresh scrubber and an extra hand towel to dry dishes on.
  4. Garbage bags.  While your instinct might be to stock up on toilet paper, I would also suggest getting an extra roll or two of garbage bags.  We had some black and some clear bags.  The clear bags are proving the most useful.  DH is using these for his laundry, which needs to be washed separate.  The clear of the bag helps us not to accidentally throw out his dirty clothes.  He uses the others for regular garbage which he double bags while wearing gloves and a mask and then leaves outside his door.  It isn’t great for the environment.  But it is pretty good for infection control.
  5. When DH was diagnosed, one of things we ended up doing is designating a place to leave him food and supplies.  We put a small table outside his door.  We knock and yell (or text) and he waits a solid 30seconds minimum before opening the door from his side and retrieving our offerings.  If he doesn’t take something, it is STILL considered his and infected.  He has a Kind Bar sitting there now that only he can eat.
  6. Exposure.  Even prisoners usually get daily outside time.  For all of our mental healths, we have worked out what seems to be a good method for checking in with each other.  Once a day, DH masks and gloves up and heads to our front patio.  He takes his designated chair – way over at one end of our patio.  Then the kids and I, masked, go sit at the other end of the patio.  We try to do it just before sunset so DH can get some Vitamin D and enjoy both  a bit of day and night.  It gives us a chance to chat and SEE each other and act like a family.  This works, admittedly, because we don’t have young children.  Our teenagers are compliant with staying away from Dad.
    Without Dad, we are winging this mask thing.
    A fuzzy blanket is always a good idea.

    It never lasts long though as it is warming up in Abu Dhabi and we can’t eat or drink in each others presence.  So thirst usually cuts these forays short.

  7. PPE.  Despite having a medical professional in the house, we did not have a big supply of masks at home.  We did as the government asked and did not buy any.  What we had were some leftover N95 from 9/11 days (18 years old now) and dust masks that we use to walk our dog during sandstorms.  When sending DH home to quarantine, the hospital gave him what they could – a handful of surgical masks, a single N95, a stack of gloves, a thermometer, and a bottle of hand sanitizer.  These are his.  HE must mask to open his door.  HE masks and gloves to do anything that will come in contact with US.  We use our flimsy masks as further deterrent not to touch our faces or rub our eyes.  But infection control is ON HIM.  When we see him, we orbit each other, staying 2 meters apart.  It can be funny to coordinate – “You going now?  Or are we?  We will stand over here?  And leave the door open for you?  And you go up the stairs and then we will close the door?”
  8. The exception to barriers being the Infected’s responsibility is laundry.  We do DH’s laundry in an otherwise empty laundry room, in full mask and gloves, last thing in the evening.  To give time the opportunity to inactive any stray virus, we do his laundry/towels at night, taking off our clothes and showering immediately after.  Given the joys of time and soap, the clothes are  put out in the sun to air dry in the morning.
  9. Speaking of pets, we do have a small dog who is kind of a jerk but loves the DH and my youngest son to bits.  It has been hard on him.  We have no idea if virus can be transmitted by his fur so we act as if it can.  He gets no petting from a gloved or not gloved  DH.  He doesn’t get the rules so cannot be allowed in the Master to see the Master.  He is dejected at this rejection but hopefully it will only be for a short while.
  10. Lastly, prepare a suitcase.  If you do end up at the hospital, you might not think you’d care about a fresh change of clothes.  In fact, you might be stuck in one of those backless sheet things for a while and be grateful for it.  Still many people are recovering from being ill but then are unable to leave the hospital because they are still testing positive and might be carriers.  If you are going to be isolating in a hospital but feeling well, you might care to have a spare change of clothing, a toothbrush, a book, phone/ipad and charger, and medicines you take regularly.  Be sure to pack your bag before you need it and label it clearly in case it gets separated from you.

It has been hard to imagine how an unwell quarantine patient would manage what I suggest above.  That said, your local hospitals and clinics will all have different capacity, open beds and thresholds for when symptoms need to be treated by them.  Follow those guidelines.  As a general rule, if you are ill and cannot manage these simple quarantine precautions, you are likely too ill to be home.  If the virus comes for you and you do seem able to manage these precautions, you might be okay to convalesce in place but I am not a Doctor!  We have talked this over with medical professionals frequently in these last few days.  If the virus is going to be bad for you, it seems to be a sudden onset of serious symptoms.  So the moment you cannot do something simple, call for an ambulance/get to the hospital.  But do everyone a favor, including the doctors who will treat you, and take infection control seriously and try to think of it as YOUR responsibility not to get your Caregivers sick.  Mask, even bandanas, will reduce the virus you shed into the atmosphere.

Obviously, we know we are super lucky to have someone on quarantine who is not actually sick.  The only bright spot in this is that DH MAY have acquired immunity when this is over and will be able to work in the Covid tent with less stress (to him and us) that he might contract it.  “Less” stress since immunity is not assured and relapses are always a possibility.  I feel for my Emergency, Medicine, and Specialty Medicine physician friends and their families who are so in the thick of this.  Many caregiving parents have moved from their self-imposed home isolation into specially designated (but still costly) hotel rooms to protect their young children and immune compromised spouses.

Some politicians have called this a war.  But it isn’t.  It is history in the making, though not the good kind.  With modern medicine, vaccines, and antibiotics, we had a brief respite in the 20th century from the pandemics that have ravaged the world through time.  Now we might be paying the piper or the world may be returning to a normal it knew though we did not.  From our family to yours, please be safe.  Be well.  Be careful.  Be happy.

Bonus :

Here is a little ditty from one of my favorite singers, Randy Newman, from his isolation.  https://safeYouTube.net/w/7Sr5

by KATrowbridge

All the books I loved this winter … and totally failed to blog about.

First, an apology to these authors. While I have been haunting and at time commenting about my reads on the Tweets, I haven’t spent nearly enough time here… doing the book reviews. So let’s catchup!

Earlier, around the time I returned from ALA MW (the American Librarians big winter conference with an absolutely massive stack of books, I developed decision fatigue and could not for the life of me pick up any one book. So I did what any vaguely messed up human does and avoided all the goodness. And then I heard about this crazy sounding novel and broke my malaise by buying the Audible of Vita Nostra, a Russian novel released recently in translation. OH MY! I was totally entranced. Since the novel starts with Sasha(Sacha? – spelling is the one trouble with audio novels) as a Highschool student, the genre would be appropriate in Young Adult. There are limited but significant mentions of sex and drinking and smoking, so if that bums you out, take a pass here. But the complexity and intrigue means that it should cross over nicely into sci-fi and Realistic Adult Fiction.

This was a commute listen for me and yes, there were times I sat at my arrival spot and didn’t get out of the car immediately. The narration was superb, something special in that all the Russian names/words came through with all their cultural, symphonic glory while the translated English was completely immersive. The translation was IN-CRED-IBLE. The story made absolute sense while still preserving its geographic roots. It had a little magical realism and sci/fi and even a little philosophy (in the form of existential questioning of self) so I was sold. I was taken with how effectively I was unable to pin point the story’s place in our timeline. I just don’t know enough about today’s Russia to compare and that was a harsh realization in some ways. I loved Sacha/Sasha, our protagonist. I loved and wanted to be her, and to NOT be her. It was hard to decide. And I adored the slice of Russian life, time scrambled as it was. I left feeling like I had visited. So if you read only one Russian novel this year, forget Tolstoy, and read the more relevant, entertaining, and possibly modern Vita Nostra. Inquiring minds want to know… will there be more novels about the Institute?

#vitanostra @thedyachenkos @simonbooks @juliameihersey

by KATrowbridge

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

Screenshot 2019-08-04 10.26.54

Woodson is a master storyteller – there is absolutely no legitimate argument contrary to that. Her latest novel, RED AT THE BONE, is an incredible story of life in multiple generations. With a deft hand, Woodson creates a tapestry of grandparent-parent-child relationships. These relationships are the focus of the novel but not where all the action resides and in that, Woodson has created something utterly unique. RED AT THE BONE is almost a novel of multiple character studies, reflecting 4 generations of African American life – with tragedy and triumph throughout. While the books ends with a sad tragic twist (one that hopefully won’t be revealed casually in blurbs and reviews), that twist provided the delicate laying-to-rest of this story that I needed. Recommended for YA audiences where frank discussions of sex, LGBTQ issues, and teen pregnancy will be appreciated.

@NetGalley #Reviewathon @JackieWoodson @RiverheadBooks #ModernClassics #NetGalley #TBR

by KATrowbridge

Ink, Iron, and Glass by Gwendolyn Clare

Screenshot 2019-07-13 13.49.04

In this fantastical universe, our protagonist, Elsa, has the superpower EVERY bibliophile wants (whether they know it or not!)  And that is why I was compelled to read Ink, Iron and Glass…. ‘cuz I too really want to be able to write things into existence.

While set up as a YA book, the characters seemed younger than their years.  Perhaps Elsa’s isolation in growing up has given her an innocent bent or maybe I have just been reading more racy YA recently.  Aside from a few “damns” and a handful of passionate kisses, this story would almost be appropriate for competent Middle Grade readers.

One of my favorite parts of this novel though is when the characters pursue a plan of action, convinced that they understand their antagonist’s plan – only to discover that they are quite wrong.  This air of believability is refreshing in a genre where coincidence sometime plays a contrived replacement for plot.  It shows a willingness to grind on the part of the author and made up for the almost limitless power our Elsa was given in the form of a version of a literary Room of Requirement.  Mind you, I mean this with only a tiny bit of judgment.  I still would love to write myself One Million Dollars…..  nothing?  nothing? Bummer.

 

by KATrowbridge

Unpresidented by Martha Brockenbrough

Many many moon ago, I started and finished Unpresidented by Martha Brockenbrough.  I waited, though, to write this review.  I wondered if there could be a better time – a less divisive time – when writing a review might draw more people to read it.  I surmised that during the Mueller investigation might not be the time to try and draw cross aisle readership.  But I think I have come to terms with the idea that people simply won’t read what they don’t want to know.  So for those of you who may believe in the value of our current Commander-in-Chief, I encourage you to read this book but I hold out little hope that you will.

 

Screenshot 2018-11-11 11.02.14

If, however, you are a seeker, someone who would like to understand the what, who and why of the current administration, PLEASE buy or borrow Unpresidented.

There is a wide relevance in this treatise on the First Family.  It is a history that tracks a familial ideology through to present day.  It explains the background and morality our President was raised in and links that both to his distant past and to our present.  If you are looking to learn the point of the Mueller investigation, you can dive right into page 263, when Special Counsel Mueller is appointed, and probably learn enough to be conversant on the topic.  But the value of this book is not merely in the clear laying out of the issues.  Nor is it as a cautionary tale for parents on how family politics and values shape our children.  Rather the most valuable aspect of this particular book is in the Foreward coupled with the 50+ pages of Endnotes that allow anyone to go to the author’s own reference material and decide for themselves whether she made the right interpretation.

On that note, I do take umbrage with the decision (by author or publisher or editor, I don’t know) not to include the endnote numbers in the text.  I realize those numbers can act as little interruptions in reading.  They can possibly make a book less readable.  But having them listed in the text body, referring directly to the source, would have enhanced the author’s point that “trust in basic facts is a vital part of civil society.  Facts become the basis of our decisions, and good decision are made with verifiable facts” (xii)  by allowing, even encouraging, readers to quickly verify the author’s assertions.  At minimum, I expected to see the citations broken out by chapter.  And I would have preferred an online guide (QR code readable) that linked to publicly available resources.  For future editions, please consider this addition.

This book is primarily written for a Young Adult/New Adult audience.  I would encourage all writers of non-fiction for this reading demographic to use contemporary citations (footnotes or endotes) for referencing.  We need to make it easy for readers to use references and we should familiarize people with the format.  Doing so creates an expectation in the minds of readers that factual books WILL have these citations.

Lastly, I would like to encourage Librarians, Social Studies teachers, Theory of Knowledge advisors, and anyone else teaching information literacy to consider using Brockenbrough’s Foreword to Unpresidented in their media literacy lessons.  The author is concise and clear in explaining “facts are facts.”  In this brief section, she logically and sequentially walks the reader through the Obama “birther” controversy – from media hype, to the official records, to WHY we should trust the records, to why we count on journalists to write “the first draft of history.”  She also discusses the concept of fairness and why it doesn’t require equality of time or resources but should instead be considered an issue of accurate representation – the middle points of a scatter plot graph not the outliers.  If nothing else, these few highlighted points (which are extremely relevant to the entirety of the book) are worth the price of purchase.

by KATrowbridge

When Spring Comes to the DMZ by Uk-Bae Lee

When Spring Comes to the DMZ is a book of contradictions.

It is a statement by a grandfather about his unhappiness being separated from the North but told by a child who has no background in a unified Korea. Through seasonal trips to the wall that borders the DMZ, we are shown how the DMZ – long abandoned by people – is now something of a wildlife refuge. Beautiful paintings show bucolic scenes tempered by razor wire and warnings in Korean.

The ending felt politicized to some extent (written originally in 2010 but advocating reunification at some level) and I wonder if this is the original intent of the author. I worried for all the animals wandering amongst the mines and (probably unwarrantedly) worried children would never grasp how destructive and dangerous the land there and in other demilitarized zones can be. Still, there is nothing like this on the market. For that and the pictures, this book should be considered. But for those libraries with Korean patrons, I would ask them their opinion and I would love to know the opinion of both Korean Americans and South Koreans on what their gut reaction was. #NetGalley

by KATrowbridge

Fake News by Michael Miller

This is a great book for librarians and computer teachers who teach digital citizenship and information literacy. Honestly, it should probably be THE textbook for the subject,. In the span of just over 100 pages, this concise book explains the origin and psychology of fake news.

Even better, it offers practical solutions to combat it. I was particularly impressed with the comprehensiveness of the subject considering the small size.

WIth photos and graphics, it is an easy read for upper elementary through high school. While I especially appreciated the index, glossary, and annotations, it would be easier to encourage students fact checking if URL shortners or QR codes were included to link readers to resources.

I hope that this will become the first in a series on information literacy topics and will be offered at affordable prices so that school librarians are able to employ it in their classes.

#NetGalley #FakeNews

by KATrowbridge

Bad Boys of Fashion

I am not a fashionista…. I am the girl who is rooting for Grunge to return, the sooner, the better. So I wasn’t sure if I was the best person to read and review a book all about men’ s style. To my surprise and delight, I really enjoyed this colorful, historical roundup of some of the most famous icons of men’s fashion. Right along with the Rebel Girls, this book is a celebration not just of clothing and accessory choices but of iconic men, some of whom have been marginalized in their time and in history.

What is there to learn from a fashion history? Well, let’s start with an explanation of one of America’s favorite children’s songs in the history of the Dandies. Yankee Doodle’s macaroni reference was finally revealed to me as (gluten-free) slang . Or what about the origin of The Fonz’s perfect bad boy style? I and my long suffering grandmother have Marlon Brando to thank for influencing my father’s teenage clothing choices. By far, though, I learned the most from the story of Oscar Wilde, an intense and unique author who took cosplay and capes to the extreme.

The frank discussion of homosexuality (including a definition of ‘sodomite’) will be appreciated by older students who are the logical target for this tome. The art (a combination of photos and modern graphic stylings) and direct writing approach should appeal to adults and teens who are interested in historical art and biographies, as well as fashion. I especially recommend this book for people who enjoyed Brazen which shared a novel graphic styling while telling intense and relevant stories.

@jencroll @AnnickPress @BadBoysofFashion

by KATrowbridge

The Great Dictionary Caper by Judy Sierra & illustrated by Eric Comstock

Screenshot 2019-01-21 20.16.57.pngNoah Webster is back in the spotlight in this brightly colored picture book intended for older elementary students. The story is simple and loose.  Words were bored in the dictionary and decided to bunk off for a bit. On each spread (and sometimes each page) a particular type of word is showcased in multiples along with their label – synonyms, palindromes, action verbs and so on. Each word is given its own personality, usually suggestive of its meaning, through the use of cleverly added eyes, noses, and expressions.

screen shot 2019-01-21 at 8.38.01 pmTwo things stand out for me here. First, the art work is compelling. Though there is a limited (albeit BRIGHT) palette and simple line art throughout, the illustrations are not simplistic. Instead the book sets a very appropriate, fun-loving and zealous mood. Second, how brilliant is it that this book handles a subject that is usually so BORING? Who cares to memorize the definition of a conjunction? Instead, we are allowed to move on from telling children what words are to visually showing them what they are. When that happens, students get incredible insight along with a fun book to read.

This is a great book for about grades 2 and up. It might be difficult to do as a read aloud because the images of the words as a whole need to be seen to fully appreciate the meaning. Consider using a camera and projection device if you go that route. This would pair nicely with a low prep activity where students came up with their own escapee words to illustrate.

Lastly, I want to thank the Phoenix Public Library and the librarians there who keep up to date on new releases. I actually borrowed this book from my own library from over 8000miles away!  Thank you Phoenix Public eLibrary! I plan to put “The Great Dictionary Caper” on my “every library should have” list and I highly recommend its purchase for k-12 libraries.

@pwisemanbooks
@EricComstockATX

@PhxLibrary
by KATrowbridge