This is a good book about the importance of listening to the words of others. It does a great job of illustrating how a child who feels unheard feels. It would make a good conversation starter.

A solid story about the importance of words.

It's important which words come out of your mouth, as your words affect the people around you.

It's important what you do with the words that build up inside you.

Learning self-expression, perhaps even self-expression through writing, can be a wonderful feeling. It can release you; it can free you.

Express yourself like Will.

This was a book with a lot to say. It was jam-packed full of emotion and tons of words that can and can't be said. I really enjoyed this because everyone has an inner monologue that they sometimes struggle with. I know I have a hard time thinking of the right words to say sometimes, so I really enjoyed this book.

Will the Word Eater seems like a book that will have a strong message. It begins with Will being told he doesn't have a voice. His parents and friends remind him of his lack of agency. The illustrations are bland and text simple. Then, Will meets an author who changes his world... and the illustrations are bland and text simple. Nothing really changed.

This book tries to teach how to save what you want to express for the right time and to the right people, and then find the way to say them. I thought the message is valuable; but the way it plays out left me confused and uncertain about sharing with young readers. The father’s comments seemed politically charged, and may be too much for tackling in this type of book.

This was a cute children’s book, that will help children who have not been listened to or have felt what they say is not important. It takes an author who has been through and told the same to finally allow Will to find his voice. Elementary teachers and therapists will be able to make great use with their students.

Will the Word Eater is the story of a boy who isn't always sure when ours safe to share what he's thinking. He's been hurt because of his words before, but a visiting author helps him free his words and encourages him to be courageous.
The story has a great concept but lacked some depth for me.

I liked the cover of this book and the use of words in the illustrations but this seemed to vanish after a couple of pages, leaving illustrations that seemed a bit bland and a story that didn't really go anywhere.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy to read and review.

Will has a lot to say but no one who really wants to listen to him. This could be a great story, but I honestly really didn't like Will's friends or family. I would have loved to use this as conversation starter for writing, but I feel like it is better used as a book on friendship and what makes (or doesn't make) a good friend.

I thought that this book was very good.

It was a book that is relatable and there are a lot of children out there that struggle to have themselves heard whether it is by parents or other adults that don’t have enough time to listen as they are too busy.

I liked how the book was done to encourage them to use their imagination and it would be useful for a child to read to see that they are not on their own, whilst that is not the best place to be and no child should feel like this it does happen sadly - it is 4 stars from me for this one

Hmmm… A book that shows talent in illustrating certain difficult concepts, but in my mind didn't quite pin them down perfectly. Our character, Will, is a regular kid who just wants to create stories, but first his dad is mobile-fixated and can't be bothered with listening to him, and then his friend tells him to shut up. Luckily, a visit to the school from an author is able to spark a lesson in regarding the power of words, of picking up a story thread and running with it, and enjoying the ability and responsibility of a well-chosen, well-timed word. But I was left wondering why the dad and friend were so nasty in the first place. The story offers no conclusion to their behaviour, and the child just stays the same, in that he started the book as someone with something to offer, and ends as someone with something to offer, just more successful at offering it. To that regard, the book seems just as much about overcoming illogical bullying as it does about wordsmithery. Still, there is always a place for the unsaid in stories, and this brief text, with fine illustrations that highlight the physical potential of words, does not close the book on multiple interpretations. A slightly begrudged four stars.

I love this story so much because I feel most of us can actually relate to it.

Most of the adults, especially parents, do not seem to have the patience to listen to what their kids say. What we do at the most is criticize whatever they say and tell them to do things our way in the name of taking the best care for them. But this book tries to tell how it actually affects a child when he's being shut up and been told to shut up at numerous occasions both by his parents and his school friend.

But yes again, it's teachers like the one in the story who actually encourages kids to speak their minds and let their imagination grow healthy.

I love the illustrations.

A good storybook indeed.

Thank you author and the publisher for the advance reading copy.