14 July 2014 THE RIGHT WORD: ROGET AND HIS THESAURUS by Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet, ill., Eerdman’s Books for Young Readers, September 2014, 42p., ISBN: 978-0-8028-5385-1

“Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup”

-- Lennon and McCartney

“If only all the ideas in the world could be found in one place, then everyone would have one book where they could find the best word, the one that really fit.”

In so many ways my two years in middle school sucked.  In other words, they were dreadful, painful, deplorable, frightful, crappy, lousy, tough, horrid, and very distressing.

But one of my fonder memories of those years is my having been, for the first time in my academic career, obliged to purchase a book for a class: My eighth grade English teacher required each of us to buy a thesaurus.  I  acquired the then-new 1968 edition of the New American Roget’s College Thesaurus in Dictionary Form.

It was so liberating to suddenly have all of those related words at hand.  I could more clearly and exactly express what I was trying to write.  It made writing more fun.  Since then, my life has never been the same.

But I never knew a thing about Peter Mark Roget -- didn’t even know his first name -- until now.  Thanks to Jen Bryant and Melissa Sweet, I now know his story.

This guy was a nerd more than two hundred years before the word nerd was invented!  Beginning as young child, his idea of fun was to create lists of words.  He graduated medical school at 19.  As an adult his idea of a good time was attending lectures, and taking part in meetings of science societies.  And, of course, making more word lists.

Then, the year he turned 73, his book of lists was finally published and he was on his way to immortality.

Despite the eighteenth-century garb and accoutrements, Melissa Sweet’s Roget appears to be someone with whom you can imagine playing kickball,.

These days, so many of us search online for synonyms and antonyms.  Given that these compilations of words all go back to the life work of Peter Mark Roget, it is great for kids to learn about his unusual and notable story.  

Richie Partington, MLIS

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