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A Chocolate Moose for Dinner

Book Summary

Reviewed by Peter Lewis

The most successful of Fred Gwynne's several collections of confusing expressions, homonyms, and idioms can lead to some interesting discussions about the curiosities of language. Gwynne draws with a literal goofiness that makes the comparisons good and funny.

Is It Any Good?

4

This is one of the more successful of author Fred Gwynne's books on homonyms and idioms because the selections are not so obvious. Shoe tree, for example, is a silly concoction, and so is the expression on the lam, which deserves to be pictured as a gent riding on the back of a baby sheep. But while the former is self-evident, the latter will have you scurrying to the dictionary to check up on word origins.

The only stumbler? "Mom says her favorite painter is Dolly." Depending on which part of the country you're from, that one may take some time to decipher. Then try explaining surrealism to a 4-year-old. "But why does the clock melt?" one wanted to know. Your serve.

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