The Weighty Word Book!

 Doug Writes Books!

   

 

     

    The Weighty Word Book is immensely popular in schools, mainly because kids and teachers alike have so much fun with it. There are about three volumes and each of you have your copies and so do your parents.  You might want to go get your copy right now and read one of the clever entries.  

    Paul, Doug, and Elissa all taught in the English Department at the University of Colorado in Boulder.  Paul and Doug were long time friends. I'm not sure how the idea to write the book came about, but they each took a letter, then chose a pretty complicated word, then created a story that would end up with a final sentence that used the word for the very first time. It was always a pun or a play on words that could make the reader groan, but it was clear that the reader would never forget the word.

    Here is the description on the Amazon site:

[The Weighty Word Book] will appeal to kids who want to sound as smart as they are. It offers a clever, funny way to introduce new words into the vocabulary. . . . There's one word for every letter of the alphabet--wait until you see what they do with dogmatic, juxtapose and zealot."--The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colorado)

"Each of these twenty-six short stories takes an elaborate, circuitous path that leads to a 'weighty' one-word punch line. . . . It's a creative and humorous approach to vocabulary building, and a natural lead in to having students create their own tall tales with multisyllabic conclusions."--School Library Journal

For example, the word "Bifurcate," which I'm pretty sure Doug wrote.  It's about twin sisters, Josephine and Kate, who did everything together, except for the one year they didn't. For their travels, Josephine chose Luxembourg, but Kate chose Iceland. So when their friends came to see them off at the airport, and realizing that the sisters were going in two different directions, they had say one goodbye for Josephine and a "separate bye for Kate." So when something or someone divides into two parts, just think of the two sisters and you'll remember the word "bifurcate." Get it?

    As you know, Doug was a great teacher, so he did the rounds of the schools,  talking  about the book, reading from the book, answering questions from the students. When your cousin Kristi  (she is my niece, the daughter of my sister Karol) was teaching in Beaumont, Texas, she asked Doug to visit her classroom as well as the whole school, where her twin daughters, Anne and Clare were also students. He received such a warm welcome there. Just look,

Doug and Anne Leonard, his niece, at her school

Doug signing books at Kristi's school in Beaumont

    When your cousin Andrew Newmiller (my grandson)  was in the third grade in Austin, Texas, much to his surprise, his teacher began reading The Weighty Word Book  to the class. As I recall Andrew talking about it, when Andrew announced that his grandfather wrote the book, I think the teacher was somewhat dubious. Andrew then proceeded to call Doug to ask him which words he had written stories about. I talked to Andrew a few days ago. He's now 34 years old, so he didn't quite recollect which words were Doug's, but his mom Julie (my daughter) and I pretty much agreed that "bifurcate" was one of them. 

    I still get royalties (money for the sale of the books) each year. So go ahead.  Go grab your book and have some fun!