ALA Booklist (Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 CDT 1994)

for reading aloud. Some of Donavan's friends collect marbles or coins or comics or buttons. He collects words. He writes down words he finds--from ballyhoo blazing across a billboard to nutrition on the cereal box--and keeps them all in a jar. When the jar is full, he asks his parents, his third-grade teacher, and his grandma how to keep his words safe, until he realizes that words are meant to be shared. The message in this first chapter book is upbeat, almost a fable at times, with echoes of the mythic genie in a jar; but the story is also rooted in the everyday world of Donovan's affectionate African American family. Above all, the words themselves are a delight: silly words such as squabble and bamboozle soft words like hush mysterious words like hieroglyphic people words like cantankerous The words surprise you with their sound and their meaning. Kids will see that language is play and that it makes people a community. The many full-page illustrations were not seen in galley, but the warm cover will pull readers in. (Reviewed June 1994)

Horn Book (Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 1994)

Third-grader Donavan, who collects words on slips of paper, wonders what to do when his jar is full. In a hurry one day, he leaves his collection unattended in the lobby of his grandmother's building. The senior-citizen residents have a grand old time, cheerfully distributing the words among themselves, providing a solution to Donavan's problem. The upbeat and lovingly word-centered chapter book is illustrated with pencil sketches depicting the African-American characters.

Kirkus Reviews

Donavan's friends collect buttons and marbles, but he collects words. NUTRITION,''BALLYHOO,'' ABRACADABRA''—these and other words are safely stored on slips of paper in a jar. As it fills, Donavan sees a storage problem developing and, after soliciting advice from his teacher and family, solves it himself: Visiting his grandma at a senior citizens' apartment house, he settles a tenants' argument by pulling the wordCOMPROMISE'' from his jar and, feeling ``as if the sun had come out inside him,'' discovers the satisfaction of giving his words away. Appealingly detailed b&w illustrations depict Donavan and his grandma as African-Americans. This Baltimore librarian's first book is sure to whet readers' appetites for words, and may even start them on their own savory collections. (Fiction. 8-11)"

School Library Journal

Gr 2-4-A gentle, thoughtful story of a young African-American boy's discovery of the power of words. Each time a word strikes Donavan as special (e.g., extraterrestrial, orchestral, perseverance, boisterous), he writes it down on a slip of paper and puts it in a jar. When his collection no longer fits in its container, he asks several people (Mom, his teacher, Dad, Grandma) what to do, but in a serendipitous way comes upon the solution himself. While visiting his Grandma, the other senior citizens in her building find that reading the words they pull from the jar is just what they need to cheer them up, and Donavan realizes the pleasure of sharing. While this book is not a fast-paced page-turner, the 10 chapters are short, and an appealing black-and-white illustration appears in each one. This title builds readers' vocabulary in a palatable way, and could be used in conjunction with a lesson on using the dictionary.-Janet M. Bair, Trumbull Library, CT