In a Pickle: And Other Funny Idioms

by Marvin Terban

Thirty popular expressions such as "straight from the horse's mouth" and "white elephant" are amusingly explained and illustrated.

Genres: Nonfiction, Language, Teaching, Childrens, Education, School

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Logan Nott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This funny book is about common idioms and their origin. The book has a lot of funny illustrations, explanations for idioms, and I would recommend to any reader looking for some humor.

[Tracy Challis · Rating 5 out of 5]

My students love this book.

[Jaime T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fin fav. Get again

[Duane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice resource for anyone who is interested in finding out where some of the curious sayings we use everyday come from. Nicely illustrated and written with a beginner reader in mind, this is a great resource. It's written so a beginner reader can understand the history of idioms and what they mean. A nice read.

[Julie Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love this book! It explains a collection of idioms in a concise and easy way. It worked for me! I never knew why "crocodile tears" meant fake crying. There were a bunch I hadn't really thought about before, and I was not really equipped to answer questions before like "Why is it called giving the cold shoulder?" Can't wait to get my own copy for this classroom.

[DelGal · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you ever wonder where the silly sayings like "your eyes are bigger than your stomach" or "straight from the horses mouth" come from, you must get this book. Filled with many examples, accompanying cute illustrations, and a detailed explanation of what the idiom means and where it came from is all included in this short, but sweet book.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is similar to Fred Gwynne's books. I like it in that it is a bit more comprehensive book of idioms. Of course, not every idiom has an image to accompany it. That is good in that I have my students come up with an idiom to illustrate, and I prefer they use one that has not already been illustrated.

[Christie Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains thirty commonly heard English language idioms, including one that I had never heard before. The illustrations made me laugh, and the explanations of the idioms were an excellent resource especially for ELLs who have never heard a lot of our expressions before.

[Kristen Edge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny! It's an entire book of idioms, with great, literal pictures to go along with each one! Kids love it!

[Katie Kerns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting explanations for tricky idioms! Definitely worth checking out and it's a quick read.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short children's book about idioms. Fine for kids, but I'd like more. Some if the illustrations could have more accurately depicted the the origins or literal meanings of the idioms.

[David]

Funny

[Chris Hart]

And speaking of picture books... I requested this book from our interlibrary loan service, and found to my surprise, it's a children's book. How it made the "best books of the decade" list from which I've been getting my reading suggestions lately, I don't know, but here we are. Maybe 7 year olds make up the list. I like books about words and word origins, but not this basic, thank you.