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Ounce Dice Trice
What can words be, or rather, what can’t they be? Poet Alastair Reid introduces children and adults to the wondrous waywardness of words in Ounce Dice Trice, a delicious confection and a wildly unexpected exploration of sound and sense and nonsense that is like nothing else. Reid offers light words (willow, whirr, spinnaker) and heavy words (galoshes, mugwump, crumb), word...more
Hardcover, 64 pages
Published
September 8th 2009
by NYR Children's Collection
(first published April 1st 1990)
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Ounce Dice Trice is the second in my B-Day trilogy that I mailed to my niece the other day (the first being Supposing, by the same author, the third, The Terrible Troll-bird).
This book is a romp exploring the magic/fun of words and their power.
Below is a short compilation of some of my favorite words or phrases:
A "consternation of mothers" or a "tribulation of children"
Sounds people & things make:
MRRAAOWL (a more accurate transliteration of a cat's "meow")
HARROWOLLOWORRAH (a yawn)
KINKLUNK (a...more
This book is a romp exploring the magic/fun of words and their power.
Below is a short compilation of some of my favorite words or phrases:
A "consternation of mothers" or a "tribulation of children"
Sounds people & things make:
MRRAAOWL (a more accurate transliteration of a cat's "meow")
HARROWOLLOWORRAH (a yawn)
KINKLUNK (a...more
full review at Deseret News
Author Alastair Reid has a fascination with words that he'd like to share with you. And not just any words, although those are interesting, too, but also curiosities, old words no longer used and words he thinks should exist.
Paired with black-and-white illustrations, these tongue-twisting collections of letters may just make you want to create your own concoction of words.
"Ounce Dice Trice" is quirky and unconventional. With poetry and illustrations reminiscent of Shel...more
Author Alastair Reid has a fascination with words that he'd like to share with you. And not just any words, although those are interesting, too, but also curiosities, old words no longer used and words he thinks should exist.
Paired with black-and-white illustrations, these tongue-twisting collections of letters may just make you want to create your own concoction of words.
"Ounce Dice Trice" is quirky and unconventional. With poetry and illustrations reminiscent of Shel...more
I had bought this book for a gift, but I'm finding it so nice, I might have trouble giving it up.
It is a lovely book celebrating words and the sounds they make. From words that sound like what they describe to words the give you certain feelings, you really look at words more closely. There are some lovely circular garlands that lead you through several interesting words back to the beginning. There are lists of words to name different things and different lists of counting words.
This is a great...more
It is a lovely book celebrating words and the sounds they make. From words that sound like what they describe to words the give you certain feelings, you really look at words more closely. There are some lovely circular garlands that lead you through several interesting words back to the beginning. There are lists of words to name different things and different lists of counting words.
This is a great...more
This is a glorious book to savor and read again and again just for the chance to revel in the beauty of words. It's not just a kids book, though it is sold in that department and though kids would love to have it read to them. The words speak for themselves, are arranged as artfully as poetry on a page, and are accompanied by the most beautiful and skillful illustrations by Ben Shahn. What a collaboration! I recommend it for everyone, and hope, even if you don't add it to your library, that you...more
What a fun book! This book lists cooky words in the English language, using categories that range from "names for your twin cats" to alternate sets of words to help you count one through ten (hence the title). My personal favorite lists: The "heavy" and "light" words -- weigh them as you say them -- only a poet could make these observations. Could ignite an interest in linguistics for children and adults. It's not a dictionary, but it makes you want to dig into one :)
If you love language, words and pronouncing things, you will fall in love with this book. It may have been intended for children, but I keep reading it to myself over and over again. Reid describes his book as "a collection of words and names to amuse and amaze you." This book is more than just lists, however –Reid's sorting, categories, descriptions and definitions are poetic, funny, and wonderfully clever. Reviewed on NPR.
Mar 18, 2010
Miss Clark
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Children age 6+
Shelves:
children-s,
picture-books
A book that explores and seeks to share a love of words, from palindromes to words that are airy or heavy, squishy or buggy, names for houses and names for whales, words becoming lost, like dimity and gloaming and frangipani, gnurr and oosse, dayligone, tantony (smallest piglet in a litter) or worg (plant that won't grow), jiggery-pokery and thrumbled. Very fun.
This is one of the NYRB's fabulous series of reprints. In this one, poet Alistair Reid explores words. Big words, little words, words that should rhyme but don't, words that rhyme but shouldn't. Simple illustrations and clever combinations make this an excellent book for introducing younger readers to more complicated but fun words.
Booktalked this by asking listeners to "translate" the following list of words: ounce, dice, trice, quartz, quince, sago, serpent, oxygen, nitrogen, denim. They got it right away! Such is the nature of this fun book about words both real and imagined. Great for a unit on poetry or wordplay.
"Words for times of day (to be used where there are no clocks)" is my favorite. Shahn's line drawings are delightful, especially the roller skaters on the page for "light words" and the odd-looking wee fellow who illustrates "feeling good," or "ram tam gee pickagee."
A great way to introduce children to the joy of words, both read and spoken. Possibly a little too advanced for the six year old, but she seemed to enjoy it anyway, for the most part. I can see this being a book we'll return to often.
Acreage, Brokerage, Cribbage, Carthage, Cage, Sink, Sentiment, Ointment, Nutmeg, Doom.
WAH.
And Ben Shahn's inky sketches, with those wonderfully furrowed-brow men and babies.
Word play given the royal treatment.
WAH.
And Ben Shahn's inky sketches, with those wonderfully furrowed-brow men and babies.
Word play given the royal treatment.
Hilarious wordplay for all ages, excellent black and white caricatures pair and enhance silliness. Side-splitting rhythms, frolicking repetitions and slick shenanigans create a must read work of art!
Hurray! It's back in print! Now I can give this book to my friends. Because to my mind every writer needs a dictionary, a thesaurus, The Elements of Style (illustrated), and this - OUNCE DICE TRICE.
Bought this book at a used book sale. It's a great "playing with words" book written for children but it's one of those books adults love to read to children because it's so fun.
One of my favorite books, all about words - some real, taken out of context, and listed by categories, like: "Light Words" (lissom, sibilant, nimble...), "Names for Elephants" (Wilbur, Bendigo, Wendell Tubb, Deuteronomy...), etc. Other words are completely invented and defined such as "a GONGOZZLER is an idle person who is always stopping in the street and starting at a curious object like a TINGLE-AIREY." The illustrations by Ben Shahn are also wonderful. O.P., but find it at the library - grea...more
This one will only be appreciated by children (and adults) who really enjoy words, but for those of us who do, this one is a splendid treasure!
Delightful book about words, meanings and the art of writing. Good for a laugh and very inspirational for budding writers.
Nov 12, 2011
dee
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Lover of words (What is that word anyway?)
Shelves:
juvenile-non-fiction
I loved, loved, loved this book. Did I say I love this book? This is a book for all you long-winded, locquacious, verbose lovers of our fine language. It was really funny and words used I never ever heard of. It just left me feeling Ram Tam Gee Pickagee! Feeling good! In it he gives names to everything. I loved the part where he names twins like Wishy and Washy for fish, Higgledy-Piggledy (good names for pigs) or Shilly and Shally or Dilly and Dally or Knick and Knack. Namby and Pamby are better...more
This is BRILLIANT. I challenge anyone NOT to read this aloud (or without at least moving his/her lips).
LOVE this book. And my kids love it when I read it to them. LOVE!
This is one of my favorite books!
Perfect except too much twinning.
A clever celebration of words, but real and made-up. There is no narrative, just lists of words and words about words. I was hooked by the list of names for elephants. The text is amusing, but I liked the illustrations even more.
I bought this book 4 days ago. I love it. Should have had it for years.
Nov 05, 2012
Cheryl in CC NV
marked it as maybe-to-read-but-not-in-clan
not in CLAN
illus. Ben Shahn
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Alastair Reid is a poet, translator, essayist, and scholar of Latin American literature. He has been on the staff of The New Yorker since 1959 and has translated works by Pablo Neruda and Jorge Luis Borges.
Among his many books for children are A Balloon for a Blunderbuss, I Keep Changing, and Millionaires (all illustrated by Bob Gill), and Supposing (illustrated by Abe Birnbaum). In 2008 he publi...more
More about Alastair Reid...
Among his many books for children are A Balloon for a Blunderbuss, I Keep Changing, and Millionaires (all illustrated by Bob Gill), and Supposing (illustrated by Abe Birnbaum). In 2008 he publi...more
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