Wranglers Wanted

Lexie the Word Wrangler by Rebecca Van Slyke ill by Jessie Hartland

​Attention all of you would-be wranglers: Grab your boots, your hat and that most essential piece of gear: your lariat. Get ready to join Lexie, the "best wrangler west of the Mississippi." Her skill with words is unmatched. She can lasso an ear of corn and a loaf of bread to create cornbread. She can grow trees of words from a tiny root word.  She can even stir up a pot of letters to make several tasty new words. It is not surprising that this word wrangler is the "best in the west."

Until... one day our heroine notices a problem. The calf pen is no longer filled with dogies. Some varmint has been adding an extra "g" to create a passel of yapping doggies. Camping out under the star-studded sky is a disaster when the stars become rats.  This can only mean one thing: a word rustler is on the loose. It's up to Lexie to track down the rascal and bring this culprit to justice.
​Fortunately for her and for our readers there is a happy solution to the problem.  Lexie convinces the rustler to change his ways and join her in word wrangling.

Lexie the Word Wrangler is the cleverest way to introduce etymology to young readers that I have ever encountered. Rebecca Van Slyke uses delightful word play and humor to teach root words, word families, anagrams, and compound words. Who knew that learning about word structure could be this much fun? Illustrations by Jessie Hartland add a whimsical and somewhat primitive touch to the whole shebang.
Every reading specialist and language arts teacher should head out right now and round up a copy this book. It beats all the worksheets, flash cards, and "drill and kill" sessions that have ever been devised.  Share the story of Lexie with your posse of youngsters. Hand out badges and deputize students. Then be prepared for a cavalry of word wranglers to lasso every word in sight!