The Word Collector Hardcover – Picture Book, April 1, 2012

at first I thought the book smelled funny and pages felt funny. I then found out it has stone pages, which I love! The story is wonderful, and the free-form manner in which the words are worked upon the page is perfect! Gives the impression that words should be fun and mind-expanding, not stuffy and boring. words are freeing ! and in case the rambling way the words are expressedis too much, the story is more concisely written at back of book, so one can be certain, to get the whole story, if unable to navigate the graphics where the words float. I love this book! My children are adults now, so perhaps I got this more for me, but they, too have enjoyed it. Perhaps in descriptions about this book, more should be addressed regarding use of stone pages, which I didn't know about until it arrived, and now that I'm trying to purchase another book as a gift for my young penpal, I'm not certain if all copies are stone paper or if some are regular paper. I've not found mention of this in descriptions. BTW the original odor I experienced with book has dissipated with book sitting out. stone pages are perfect for children's books! AND the planet!

The illustrations in this book are BEAUTIFUL! the story is fantastic and it has a wondeful lesson to share. I’m a school counselor and purchased this for a lesson on kindness for my third grade students and they too were very engaged. However, it’s very tricky to read some of the words as they vary in size and color and curve everywhere. The students were a bit overwhelmed by that part of the book. Nonetheless, I’m very glad I purchased it and used it for my lesson. Our words and actions are powerful and we should always give only our best, kindest words to lift other up.

This is a lovely book, and my son enjoyed it very much. Only issue was a manufactory error: two pages were still bound together. I had to stop reading to cut them apart. Only reason for the dropped star. Otherwise, would definitely recommend this.

I have always loved words: what they mean, where they come from, their history, how they are used, This book is about a girl who collects words. It's not necessarily an easy read because you must follow the letters to find the words and untangle the streams and strands of words to make meaning of what you read. The message is initially intriguing but later it took my breath away. (I cried.) The illustrations are beautiful as well. I highly recommend this book.

Love this book so much! The story is great and the art work is amazing! My 7 year old was starting to get into the bad habit of negative thinking and we spent about a month really trying to change that around this is one of the resources I stumbled upon and I'm so glad I did. Not only did it have a great message but we had a great talk about fonts and the power of association with design because of it. I have since bought more copies to give as gifts.

I had to go through this book to figure out how to read it. It's destined for my grandkids that live in France. I will have to read it with them so they will figure it out. They are very bilingual, French and English. The artwork is phenomenal and the book is printed on the very good glossy stock.

Incredible illustrations and the weight and feel of the StonePaper really adds a lot to the sensory experience of reading this book! Wonderful for the beginning of the school year and kicking off a study of Structured Word Inquiry! Highly recommended for the elementary classroom.

The illustrations in this book are fantastic - and the story is just wonderful! Love reading it with my grandson!

A simply wonderful book with a lovely story theme. I love the way it is written & even though the text wiggles across the page, I love that & found it easy to read. So glad I bought this for my 8yr old nephew. I love it & am going to buy another for myself...I simply love the illustrations & sentiment. A beautifully written & illustrated book x

This book is useless for reading to your child, let alone ask your child of reading age to reaad. The few words to each picture are largely annexed at the back. The main pages are focussed on drawings, although they are quite nice. The words on most pages are difficult to read even for an adult. The idea behind the story is good but it is told in a disconnected way with sudden jumps - it could have been so much better.This seems to be part of a growing genre of 'books' that focus on cool drawings and whacky but sketchy stories that are overall poorly told and badly written. I struggle to find a combination of interesting or witty story with a KS1 legible font.For this book - don't buy if you hope your child might be able to read this by herself. Prepare to make up your own story as you look at the drawings, or flip back and forth. Not worth the money.

I liked everything about this book - I will use it for recording to share with children but that may not do it justice. Highly recommend - so beautiful on so many levels.

I find this difficult to follow and read with the trailing words but the colours and pictures are lovely.

Many of the pages of this book have words scattered haphazardly across the page. It's an intentional device, and for older children reading on their own, perhaps it would be interesting. But for adults reading the book aloud (often upside down!) it is incredibly hard to read. So purely from a legibility point of view, this gets one star from me.