Eating her alphabet cereal one day, Anna is amazed to discover that she can rearrange the letters in the word 'dawn' in order to create the word 'wand.' Now armed with a magic wand, Anna has become a word wizard, helping little lost Zack get home through the use of her creative word play...

Pairing a simple, fairy-tale feeling story with bright artwork created using cut-paper collage, rubber-stamp prints and watercolor, author/illustrator Cathryn Falwell offers a playful look at anagrams in her Word Wizard. Although it does play around with the idea of magic - I found the book through a list of witchy picture-books, which are an interest of mine - it is the enchantment of words that is central here. Anna may use a wand, but any child can follow her example and use letters to create new words, and Falwell includes a brief note at the rear inviting young readers to do just that. Recommended to all young word lovers, and to teachers looking for fun stories about letter and spelling. ( )

This is a super cute book that makes spelling fun for kids! I would use this book in my future classroom. ( )

At breakfast one morning, Anna discovers magic in her bowl of alphabet cereal. The letters in her spoon can be arranged to form several different words. She's a word wizard! Wielding her magic spoon, Anna helps a lost little boy named Zack find his way home-turning a wave-tossed ocean into a canoe and producing a horse once they reach the shore. Accompanied by Cathryn Falwell's ingenious collage pictures, this lively adventure is an enticing introduction to a creative form of wordplay. A concluding note encourages children to become word wizards by collecting letters and words from newspapers and magazines to form their own anagrams.

Interesting way to show children how to manipulate letters in words to form new words with new meanings. A great way to demonstrate having fun with words through Anna's adventures.

Anna is eating her cereal when she begins to find words with her magic spoon. As the letters are rearranged, adventures begin happening. ( )