BOOK REVIEW : DICTIONARY FOR A BETTER WORLD – POEMS, QUOTES AND ANECDOTES FROM A TO Z BY IRENE LATHAM & CHARLES WATERS

TITLE : Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z

AUTHOR : Irene Latham & Charles Waters

GENRE : Children’s Non-Fiction, Poetry

FBRC RATING : 5 stars

PUBLICATION DATE : 4th February 2020

BLURB :

How can we make the world a better place? This inspiring resource for middle-grade readers is organized as a dictionary; each entry presents a word related to creating a better world, such as ally, empathy, or respect. For each word, there is a poem, a quote from an inspiring person, a personal anecdote from the authors, and a “try it” prompt for an activity.

This second poetic collaboration from Irene Latham and Charles Waters builds upon themes of diversity and inclusiveness from their previous book Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship. Illustrations from Iranian-British artist Mehrdokht Amini offer readers a rich visual experience. 

FBRC REVIEW :

DISCLAIMER : I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. Thank you Netgalley and Lerner Publishing Group & Carolrhoda Books for providing the ARC copy of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I wasn’t sure what I will be getting and how it would feel after reading the book. I have to say I really happy I requested this book and I got the chance to read it. This book irrespective of the Genre and age category it’s meant for, I believe will wake you up and look at yourself and life around you with fresh eyes. I like to believe it’s made me more aware of things that I have ignored before and re-iterated some things very beautifully as well. I absolutely adored this book and thinking about it makes me feel warm. A beautiful collection of poetry with amazing insights from the authors and some information for the book nerds out there. 

I loved this book and will definitely buy a copy for myself. That is for sure. I think this book regardless of age can be read and enjoyed. The book was filled with great poetry and had this food for thought messaging throughout the book and the try it out sections asking us to interact with it that made the book even more meaningful and fruitful in its delivery. I loved the tidbits of information the authors provided, helping us understand the type of poetry it is. The form of poetry used was mentioned after each poem.

Every poetry was inspired by words that were arranged in alphabetical order. The different forms of poetry designed to bring life to important themes and topics were very creative. I loved all the poems and the way it elevates, inspires and encourages people to be better and strive for greater things and overall to never stop trying.

The themes around which the poetry is written is accompanied by the thoughts from the authors and small details that inspired them related to the theme. I found that very much insightful and showing us those moments helps us understand them and also feel connected to the story and thoughts they were sharing with their readers.

I think this book is perfect for kids who love reading and also for young adults and adults alike. I don’t think there is any age restriction you can put on this book and it is relevant and applicable to all. I am sure young kids would love this poem and will help them understand some very important themes in life like love, respect, hope, forgiveness, equality, justice and so on. The attitude of this book is definitely to inspire and also engage the readers in discussions and also make us question our life and how we live it. The overall positivity in this book hopefully will help us wake up to a better world with a zest for life. I think we all need more of it in our lives and around us. 

Overall it’s an amazing book and I would love to check out their previous book as well. I loved the concept and their approach towards it. I gave it 5 stars. I highly recommend it for everyone and especially kids who are old enough to understand and grasp these concepts. Middle graders would be the right time to introduce it and have discussions on it. It’s definitely on my list of books I would love to introduce my kids to. So definitely check it out and the book is available to pre-order. The expected publication is 4th February 2020. Please let me know some amazing poetry for kids and also books that are great for kids to start reading in the comment section down below.