February 1, 2011
Grades 2-4 This colorful entry in the Words Are CATegorical series defines an interjection as a word or phrase spoken suddenly and used to show emotion, then demonstrates its uses in a rhyming, rhythmic text. Throughout, the level of Clearys inventive verbal humor is greatly magnified by Gables madcap drawings of dressed animals dramatizing the sentences with cartoon-style exaggeration. Unlike earlier subjects covered in the series, interjections can include many parts of speech. Language-arts teachers will appreciate the variety of examples, while children will enjoy the comic relief and, with any luck, absorb the concept along the way.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)
July 1, 2011
As if those already overexcited cats needed another excuse to go bouncing off the walls, here they discuss interjections--"Oh, my!" "Dear me!" "The jerk! The fool!" Exclamation points abound, but coherent explanations are few and far between. As usual, there's some punch to the rhymes, but the boast that ."..now you know the answer to/ 'What is an interjection?'" is pretty empty.
(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)