A is for Anthropomorphism

On my first day of school, my teacher Ms. Beairsto (!) told us that we would learn to read. She wrote on a piece of paper any word we chose so that we could read it to our parents that night. No “cat,” “duck,” or “ball” for me, for I was a precocious child. I chose “university.” I had just begun to grasp, I think, that words were vessels of meaning and reasoned that, the bigger the word, the more meaning, mystery, and magic might be packed into it. I also like the slippery, complicated feeling as big words rolled around my tongue.

This, then, is an alphabet book for precocious children (and their parents). Each big word is accompanied by a rudimentary definition and picture suggesting its meaning. Children and parents are encouraged to go to the dictionary together to continue their explorations of the joy and wonder of language.

Sesquipedalianists, ho! -MK