Eye to Eye by Vanita Oelschlager, A Review

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This book is currently available for pre-order. The publication date is listed as: September 1, 2014

Book Description

Eye to Eye shows children the magic of idioms words that separately have one meaning, but together take on something entirely different. Children are curious about words, especially phrases that make them laugh (Stick Your Neck Out) or sound silly (All Ears). Eye to Eye uses outlandish illustrations of what the words describe literally. The reader then has to guess the real meaning of the phrases (which are at the bottom corner of the spread). At the end of the book, the reader is invited to learn more about these figures of speech. Our first book of idioms, Birds of a Feather (2009), dealt with birds, insects or animals. Our second, Life is a Bowl Full of Cherries (2011) uses food idioms. Our third book, Out of the Blue (2012) dealt with idioms about colors. This will be the fourth in the series, dealing with body parts. All four are fun and instructive.

Review

I received an eARC copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Here is my honest review.

Oh what a delight this book is! I was immediately taken with the gorgeous illustrations! Young children are literal as they learn language and idioms are tricky phrases that they can have a difficult time deciphering. Oelschlager has compiled a list of those catchphrases that relate to our body parts and written easy-to-understand explanations for them. The pictures are silly and sure to get a laugh out of any child!

Included idioms range from bone to pick with you to elbow grease to stick your neck out.

The history major in me especially appreciated the final page that included the historical background on a few of the idioms. While it would be nice to have that for every saying in the book, I'm sure they would be easy to find.

In addition to this volume, Vanita Books has published several other idiom explanation books. They are linked below for you.

Background Info on author and company