I enjoyed this book about the importance of words. I found the messaging clear to follow, and I know my children would feel the same way! I loved that the words were illustrated as "people" and felt my children would enjoy figuring out the letters during read-aloud time. I appreciated how the author addressed being scared, learning, and growing!

I thought it was much too busy. I also didn't like the bad-word-bees, as we tend to spend a lot of time teaching about the benefits of pollinators. The other thing I really had an issue with was that it said the same word that hurts is a word that heals, and I think that's a really unfortunate sentiment to teach to children. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for letting me read!

The overall premise here is charming, but I think the letter formation of the personified words should have been formed more precisely in the interest of clarity for new readers. I also think a mention of how hurtful certain words can be may be relevant.

How fun! This is a really clever book, and it's almost like a where's waldo of words. There's the actual story (which goes into things like synonyms and antonyms) , but then there's the words mixed and mingled within the art and it's like a scavenger hunt to find them all. Some images took me a second to figure out what word they were creating, but I honestly think that adds to the game. This will be incredibly fun to read with kids and see what they can find on their own.

"Words" is a thoughtful children's book that teaches kids the importance of using their words. I do think it encourages children that they are okay to use their words however they want without a filter which I don't agree with. I think some of the messages weren't conveyed correctly. It has a artwork of children fighting and later statements of giving as many chances as it takes. While I do think we need to encourage kids to forgive, we also need to encourage boundaries and if there is another child that is constantly hurting them with words- maybe they need to separate form that child. I think we need to encourage our kids to be cautious with our words. We want to use our words to be a light in this world and the kind of words we use matters.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was a little confused on the point of this book. Was the message to talk about feelings? Was it about discovering feelings? Was it to overcome shyness? Was it about public speaking? Maybe it was all of these things combined.
Although I may have missed the intended message of this book, the illustrations were unique. I found myself entertained with the scavenger hunt of finding all the words on each page. There were a few words I had a hard time finding out what they were. Overall, a good book I would revisit.

Oooh I really liked this! I liked they the author really brought the words to life (literally!). Such a fun concept and so beautifully illustrated!

This book has SUCH cute and intentional illustrations. This story would be a great SEL read for littles to help them visualize what their words would look like - nice or... not so nice. Some words, like "safe" and "love", are illustrated as bodies or parts of the environment. This could be super fun during a classroom read-aloud for students to notice more and more words on the page.

However, I definitely struggled to identify the overall theme of the story. I think a bit more of a focus on one idea, like visualizing your words or taking accountability for your words would make the book more cohesive and applicable to a kid's real-life.

Theoretically this book had a good idea at its core and there was quite a bit of serious attention to detail, but it still fell a bit short for me. I'll start by talking about the illustrations. It's clear that the illustrator has an eye for detail and has a lot of creativity. Making each word's "body" spell the actual word was really smart and highly unique! However, the way some of the words were illustrated created some confusion. I found myself sitting here reading this book and thinking, Am I stupid or is this not a complete word?, and then spending extra time confirming that it was, in fact, an actual word. In short, the words as people should be very clear and there should be little to no confusion, especially for a children's book.
As for the writing, it felt a little disconnected. I just don't get what this book is trying to get at. It almost seemed like it was encouraging young readers to overcome fear of speaking, but it wasn't totally clear. Additionally, there weren't really any connectors or transitions between different ideas, which is why I said this book lacks cohesion.
All in all, I think that this book's focus needs to be a bit more specific and conveyed well to the reader.

We always take for granted the power of words and this little book reminded me of that, definitely a wonderful book to read to the kids at home and I will definitely read it to my little nephew. The pictures were beautiful, and the words written in different ways were even more so.

Lovely illustrations. Great book to help teach the power of words and how we need to pick the right ones sometimes.

First things first I'd like to thank the author and NetGalley for lending me this ARC, however all the opinions here are my own.
Words is a children book explaining what words are and their use, explained in a funny and whimsical way, pretty smart way of writing words as pictures, I enjoyed it.
I tend to read children's books when I need to replenish my will to live and when I need recs for the young ones in my life, and I know of certain little boy who finds reading ( and school! ) awful who I believe would find this entertaining, so hopefully there are other ones out there in the same spot who might benefit from it as well!

Oh, this was such an exciting read! I really enjoyed Katherine Davis-Gibbon's text and Anne Berry's illustrations are beautiful, fun and so innovative with how the words are spelt as characters in the story too! Children would be thrilled to spell out the words and find where the smaller ones are hidden. Great book!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a lovely children’s book about the power of words.
“Words like second chances, words like third chances.”
What a wonderful message to teach children. The illustrations were calming and my son loved finding the hidden words on each page.

Thank you to Riverlet Press and Netgalley for the ARC of this novel; all opinions are my own.

Words is a cute book with great message about the importance and power of words. The illustrations were really interesting and I enjoyed the little “Easter eggs” of details on each page. Very cute and thought provoking book for kids!

I was surprised at how good this was.

This is my third short children’s book I’ve read and definitely my favourite so far. It has a really good message that I think is understandable for young children, though I think it would take some explaining by parents for them to fully get it. A couple more lines about how words may hurt sometimes or how you may say something you don’t mean I think would really drive the message home for kids. The illustrations are fun and engaging. Overall for a children’s book, it’s great!

Aww, this is such a sweet picture book. It beautifully demonstrates the power and weight of words, how they can make you feel, and the importance of them. In doing so, this book provides a wonderful resource for social-emotional intelligence for young children.

Beyond its message, this book is very pretty. The art style is gentle, yet eye-catching.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.