After reviewing the incredible What a Wonderful World by Leisa Stewart-Sharpe and Lydia Hill last week, it felt only fitting to share the equally brilliant, What a Wonderful Phrase by Nicola Edwards and Manu Montoya.
This beautiful hardback collection of amazing idioms from around the world would make a perfect gift. For each idiom the book gives us the phrase in the native language, the literal and figurative meanings and the origins of the phrase. But what makes this book stand out is that it also describes the phrase’s cultural, scientific and historical context.
Did you know in Sweden they say, “There’s no cow on the ice”? We loved finding out how much snow and ice is used to create the Icehotel in Sweden each year. Manu’s illustration of the ice breaking under the cow is brilliant!
My daughter’s favourite idiom was, of course, the Italian “to have salt on your pumpkin” which means “to use your head.” She has also requested we go to Venzone one day to meet the Archduke of the Pumpkin!
What a Wonderful Phrase is packed full of fun, inclusive facts and will be a book you want to dip in-and-out-of, over and over again, learning something new every time.
Published by Caterpillar Books, 5 August 2021
ISBN: 978-1838913274
I am very grateful to the publisher for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book. This voluntary review contains my honest opinion.
Picture Book Perfect 
Leave a Reply