You're Toast and Other Metaphors We Adore

by Nancy Loewen, Donald Wu (Illustrator)

Overview

Here's a BRIGHT IDEA — read this book! It's a PIECE OF CAKE! Even if you're sharp as a tack, metaphors can be confusing. But this colorful, silly picture book by Nancy Loewen is sure to engage and educate young readers, while teaching them about various figures of speech. A must read!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781404867178
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	12/01/2010
Series:	Ways to Say It
Pages:	24
Sales rank:	642,775
Product dimensions:	10.60(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	530L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 10 Years

About the Author

Nancy Loewen grew up on a farm in southwestern Minnesota, surrounded by library books and cats. She’s published more than 140 books for children and young adults. The LAST Day of Kindergarten and Four to the Pole (co-authored with polar explorer Ann Bancroft) were Minnesota Book Award finalists. Her Writer’s Toolbox series received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers. Nancy has also received awards from The American Library Association, the New York Public Library, and the Society of School Librarians International.

Nancy lives in St. Paul and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University. She likes to read, cook, take long walks, and photograph oddities from thrift stores. Please visit her website at nancyloewen.net.

Editorial Reviews

Sprinkled throughout the story the author has embedded metaphors of all kinds. Speech bubbles and fact boxes give explanations and a bit of history about metaphors. Another in the series recommended for teachers to use as a read aloud for students to hear metaphors in everyday language.

Reading Today Online

Gr 2–5—After a one-page explanation of the specific type of figurative language, these books launch into a story. The figures of speech always appear in a font different from the rest of the text to make them distinct. On each spread, text boxes explain how the figurative language in the story works and provide interesting trivia or historical notes. For example, in Tongue Twisters, readers learn that all languages feature these tricky phrases, and that in sign language, they are called finger fumblers. Each book concludes with a suggested activity. The titles on similes and metaphors include some examples not always found in materials for children, and Clichés and Metaphors also discuss idioms. Although these stories are definitely teaching tools, the full-spread illustrations help to contribute characterization and humor and make the books useful as classroom read-alouds.

School Library Journal