SOLVED. children's book - world where you have to buy words [s]

[Amanda]

Book details: It's a red book, by a french author (I think). A little boy lives in a world where words are made in a factory and people must buy them. He and his friends catch words in a net sometimes and he saves the good words for a little girl he likes. He goes to profess his love one day, but an older boy tells her first, in full sentences, about his love for the girl. The hero of the book is dismayed, but the girl comes to him so he tells her his words anyway. One of the words he uses is "cherry" and I can't remember the other ones. after she kisses him, he says the word "again."

[Holly]

A few other people have looked for this book before in this group. Is it Phileas's Fortune: A Story about Self-Expression?

[Justanotherbiblophile]

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

As Holly mentions,
Solution:
Phileas's Fortune: A Story about Self-Expression by Agnes de Lestrade and Valeria Docampo

Related/Suggested titles:
_The Phantom Tollbooth_
_The Very Inappropriate Word_
_The Boy Who Loved Words_
_Max's Words_
_The Word Collector_

And if the solution or any of these suggestions are correct, we'd love you to say so, and move this thread to the 'Solved' folder. If they're not, let us know what differences you noticed from the suggestions, or additional information that we can ruminate over.

[Amanda]

Thank you so much Holly!

[Kathryn]

Which one was it?

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

We're going to call this Solved. It's the book Holly linked to.