The Wonderful O (New York Review Children's Collection)

I don't know what age this book is written for. The language is a bit difficult and the concept of the pirate who hates the letter O and gets rid of everything with that letter. It is funny and clever. It took me a while to figure out how to read it with all the "O"s missing. My 4 year old is a ways from being able to stick with this book. But it's so unique and clever I am keeping it for him to read when he IS old enough. When I read the info before I purchased it it said something about big words. My boy loves to learn big new words. Just not so many at one time. I did read the first chapter to him and days later he was thinking about the concept of no more O. So it intrigued him even if it is a bit difficult. There are a few illustrations.

"The Wonderful O" is a delightful book for our younger readers about a dastardly group of pirates who invade the island of Ooroo looking for treasure. Oh wow, with a name like Ooroo, this place is just asking for trouble. Seems that Black, the pirate chief, hates the letter O, because when he was a child his mother got stuck in a porthole, and he couldn't pull her in, so he had to push her out. Poor Moms. And now Black is about to consolidate his capture and takeover of Ooroo by banishing from speech and print every word and name which contains the letter O. So how are we to pronounce Ooroo? Or Otto Ott, whose name comes out sounding like a terminal stutter? Or consider the case of poor Ophelia Oliver, who, when she lost her O's, vanished from the haunts of men.Thurber has written a hilarious book showing the pure chas and cnfusin that reign when the language is stripped of its O's. How can you tell a cat from a cat? Or a bat from a bat? Strip the O from the language and we will all be indeed bgne and webegne. Not to mention losing words like hope, love, valor, and the greatest of all, freedom.Black may have stripped the language of all its O's but he can't break the people's spirit, and eventually he and his crew hoist anchor and sail away into the sunset, leaving the people and their island with all their O's intact. Kids will love this book for the hilarious play on words, as well as for the message it gets across. A wonderful bk (oops, I mean book) for youngsters and oldsters alike. How could there be youngsters, or oldsters, or books, if there weren't any O?

...THE WONDERFUL O is a charming book. It's full of wit, wisdom, and social commentary. It's a great story and plays around with the English language in a most interesting way. This is a book that appeals to both adults and children and would also work well as a text in an upper elementary English class. It's a great book. Oh, yeah. Has anyone seen BRAVEHEART? There's a connection between the two.

I read The Wonderful O years ago as a young adult and find myself recommending the book to others. But, alas, the book is out of stock; I mean, the bk is ut f stck. Please, Mr/Ms Publisher, put this wnderful bk back n the bkshelves. As yu can see, we can't live fully withut the letter, r withut this wnderful bk.

If there is any way to get this back in to print, I would buy copies for most children I care about.