This is one of most interesting book I read this year. It's full of information, of course, and things to learn, and some are very interesting to know. For both children and adults, this is a book you should have at home, so you can read carefully, and re-read without needing to return it to the library. And with great illustration too!

This is a book I'll be adding to my personal shelf! For any fellow word-lovers, you need this book--seriously. Each page delightfully explores the etymology of one or more interesting words and the illustrations are fun and engaging. This would be a great book to read 1-2 pages at a time with kids. Readers of all ages will love the quirky, curious stories behind so many words. Fantastic!

'Every Word Tells a Story' by Tom Read Wilson is a brilliant book exploring language and its origins. It is laid out really thoughtfully, giving small chunks of text at a time with truly engaging illustrations. Some words are explored through prose with some fact boxes but some word's meaning is be told through verse. My daughter and I loved this! We felt it broke the book up a little and she enjoying trying to learn some by heart! We loved exploring the meaning of words we use all the time and discovering some words we've not heard of before.

This is one of our favourites book read this year and we can't wait to get a hard copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In a Nutshell: The almost-perfect gift for every little (and not-so-little) logophile. Loved it!

👉 What’s common to a ‘chameleon’ and a ‘dandelion’, at least etymologically?
👉 Why is ‘canapé’ derived from the French word for ‘sofa’?
👉 What’s the link between ‘karaoke’ and ‘karate’ other than the fact that they are both Japanese in origin?
👉 Which is the only fantastical creature that has its origins in architecture?
If any of these questions piques your curiosity, this book is the right fit for you.

As the author declares in his introductory note, words have personalities. Some are friendly, some scary, some awe-inducing. This amazing book takes us on a journey through some of the mind-blowing words in the English language. Rather than making it a boring dictionary-style exposition, the content focusses on the etymological origins of these words, adding details about the root and its meaning in the original language. It also contains some fascinating facts and funny tales about some word origins.

Before the book sets off on its alphabetical journey, there is a guide on how to use the book. There is also a glossary of special terms uses by logophiles such as onomatopoeia (one of my favourite words), portmanteau and eponym.
(On an aside: I truly appreciate the fact that the glossary is right at the start rather than at the end. It is so easy to miss out on glossaries in digital books if they are after the main content.)

There are four words taken from each letter of the English alphabet. One of these words is highlighted in detail with a poem that specifies its meaning and etymological source, with additional informative titbits in text boxes. The remaining three words get a briefer page space but are still explained well.

I have always loved words, so to me, this book was a treat. While a fair amount of the content was familiar to me, I still learnt plenty of new stuff. (I never knew the word ‘fart’ has a Sanskrit origin! And while I did know the meaning & origin of the word ‘guru’, I never knew that it originally meant ‘weighty’ or ‘grave’!)

Even if I weren’t a word aficionado, I am sure I would have loved this book. I admire how the content didn’t let the factual details pull the momentum down but kept the proceedings informative as well as entertaining. There are plenty of humorous remarks to keep kids interested, and there are even pop culture references to make the meanings simpler.

The illustrations are okay, not great. To be honest, the textual content engrossed me so much that I forgot to look at the sketches most of the times. But when I did see them, they were not eye-popping. Moreover, some of them were awkward. Like the illustration for ‘ventriloquist’ has a boy sitting on the lap of a dummy instead of the other way around – was that deliberate. The worst was the illustration accompanying ‘guillotine’ – why was it so graphic!??!

Overall, I am absolutely thrilled with the content. This will be a great resource for any word lover, whether at home or school. The book is meant for readers aged 8-12 years, but it will offer loads of fun even to older linguaphiles.

4.5 stars. (Would have been a five-star read if it had had better illustrations.)

My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group and NetGalley for the DRC of “Every Word Tells a Story: An extraordinary A to Z of etymological exploration”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Each letter of the alphabet is presented by a particular thing, but then it goes into detail about the meaning of the word as well. For example, an Aardvark’s name comes from the words Aard, meaning earth, and Vark meaning piggy. I never would have guessed that an aardvark’s name was essentially earth piggy, and I for one think my life is now more complete knowing so.

I love etymology so much! I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and found the format of it to be really delightful. Even as an adult I learned so many new things, and would definitely recommend this for 1-2+ grade readers.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and words & pictures for giving me the opportunity to read and review this title.

I am so excited to buy a copy of this book. It has an alphabet of words, starting with a poem and explaining the meaning and origins of the word. Really interesting and some great word choices, all with great illustrations. Will definitely get a copy for the classroom.

I like the unique idea for this book! A strange word for letters A-Z is introduced with a clever poem then it breaks down the word with definitions and origination. Great for vocabulary building! My problem with the book is that it adds 3 additional words per letter but without the fun poem or definition and origination. It becomes very wordy and long which is too much for kids to read or listen to. It's overwhelming and just doesn't hold their attention very well. It includes a lot of potty humor which I think is to draw in kids but just makes it less appealing for teens and adults. I could see a child that loves dictionaries and learning new words enjoying this. The illustrations are colorful and engaging! Maybe if you broke it down and read one letter a day it would do better. So fun idea just not executed well.

Thank you for the ARC

I used the Netgalley Shelf to view this book and it's utterly beautiful from the beginning. I love Tom so was very excited to review this and will purchase for my little nephews.
It's packed full of information and the illustrations are amazing, they are very similar to Quentin Blake and I look forward to reviewing more books illustrated by the Illustrator Ian Morris.
Highly recommended, would make a fantastic gift.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is a fun and engaging book! Read it with people all of ages!

Fascinating book to have for children to dip into. Written in a way that's accessible from quite a young age but not as much appeal for older children as I'd have liked. Illustrations are vibrant and enticing so a lovely book to have to refer to or dip into.

Every Word Tells a Story

What a wonderful book for the curious! This book has so much information and stories and the illustrations are amazing. Reminds me of a Roald Dahl book. The style is very similar to Quentin Blake. Every word in this book goes back to its Latin roots. We are sure that your children will enjoy learning these facts and bringing the information back to school in their English class! As an adult, I loved this book and enjoyed the information behind many interesting words.

#NetGalley #bookstagram #bookreview #goodreads #youngreaders #primaryschool #english #Every Word Tells a Story
#tomwilsion

I didn’t even know most of these words existed! It’s just pure fun and informative reading this amazing compilation!

The young readers will love with the way how each of these words tells a story in such an entertaining way! The writing is really interesting and the illustrations just perfect.

Thank you, Quarto Publishing Group - words & pictures, for the advance reading copy.

What a fantastic book for curious minds! There is so much information and history in this book, and the illustrations are just brilliant. They really remind me of Roald Dahl's books. The style is very similar to that of Quentin Blake. Each word in the book delves back to its Latin roots and I've no doubt children would relish learning these facts and bringing the information into school with them for English class! I love the attention to detail such as the colour coding for the meanings and roots of the words. As an adult, I really loved the book and enjoyed the information behind so many interesting words because it made me feel more knowledgable, but it also made a lot of sense!

This is such a brilliant idea for a children's book, and it's so perfectly executed by Tom Read Wilson.
The illustrations really bring the book to life, and help to break up the book into more manageable chunks as not to overwhelm the reader. (I think the amount of info within this book could overwhelm at times, but the illustrations help with this)

This would be a perfect christmas gift.

Really cute book, that packs an informative punch!

This book was so fun to read if you are curious about etymology. Each entry was alphabetical and cleverly illustrated. Kids and adults alike will enjoy learning the history of these words.

Thank you NetGalley for givingme this gem to review.

Ever Word Tells a Story is truly a fun way to expand one's vocabulary. The etymological breakdowns truly makes you want to lookup every word and see how they became part of our daily lives.

My mind is still shaken by the fact map is abbreviated.

If you love reading, words, and language as much as me then you’ll love this precious children’s book, all about some of the most interesting and entertaining words in the English language. From exploring how the language and letters we read came about, to hilarious funny stories and fascinating facts for your little ones, this one is as entertaining for adults as it is for children. For every word, a story is included, and your little ones will love this wild and exceedingly educational adventure through words.

Colorful and whimsical, this one is a fun way to, gasp, learn. I have to admit, I was intrigued after seeing he'd used the word "daisy" as an example in the blurb. My dog's name is Daisy and I use her name at the title of my book review blog, so there was curiosity. After reading it, I looked over at her. Yep, eyes ever lowering, she was ready to go curl up safe and sound in bed only to arise bright and bouncy again tomorrow. The word daisy comes from an old English term meaning "day's eye", so named because the flower daisy basically curls its petals up over its "eye" at night and opens at dawn. Yep, I had no clue at the time I named her but fits my Daisy perfectly.

In any case, although I question the target of children for this book, there's much to find, giggle over, and perhaps discuss with adults as they browse the colorful illustrations by Ian Morris and read Wilson's light doses of info and humor. He's selected four words per letter, introducing the first of each set with a humorous, short poem. Don't worry, nothing heavy, with the emphasis of cute and funny. Each word is fully illustrated, often blending from one page to the other, with snippets of into on word origin, meaning, and when appropriate, a bit of history. I did question the use of guillotine as one of the words but, well, who are we kidding. Kids love that sorta thing. They'll find words such as bumf, clodhopper, frippery, kindergarten, ogre, quignog, and zombie among many others.

The drawings are reasonably realistic but whimsical in nature, hence the Diplodocus is a lovely shade of, well, blue polka-dots. I'm assured that likely isn't realistic but it fits the tone of the book, fun and quizzical looking as good ol' Diplodocus (oh, okay, it's a dinosaur) is. In other words, while there is much to entertain younger children, older children and those of us who are, well, not children can find much to amuse ourselves in this book. Thanks #NetGalley and #QuartoPublishingGroup for letting me take a sneak peek. Also to #words&pictures, the original publisher. They're right. Every word does tell a story to those of us who care to listen.

Thanks to Net Gallery for the Book.
As Someone Whose Watched the UK Gameshow Countdown, You'll Know a Segment Called Susie Dent's Origins of Words, This Book is Exactly that for the Younger Lexographers in your Life.