The Right Word: Roget and his Thesaurus

The Right Word: Roget and his Thesaurus

Written By Jen Bryant, Illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Eerdman’s Books for Young Readers, Grand Rapids Michigan

Published in 2014

Reading Level: Lexile – 590L, Grade Level – 3

2015 Caldecott Medal Winner

2012 Golden Kite Award Winner for Picture Book Illustration

"lists, writing, biography, words, thesaurus"

For shy young Peter Mark Roget, books were the best companions -- and it wasn’t long before Peter began writing his own book. But he didn’t write stories; he wrote lists. Peter took his love for words and turned it to organizing ideas and finding exactly the right word to express just what he thought. His lists grew and grew, eventually turning into one of the most important reference books of all time.

Suggested Delivery: Individual Reading

Teaching Suggestions

1. Vocabulary:

• Thesaurus: a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms
• Clattered: to make loud rattling sounds, especially made by hard objects
• Peppered: to pelt with or as if with shot or missiles
• Intrude: to bring in without invitation, permission, or welcome
• Lockstep: a way of marching very close in file at the same time
• Concisely: expressing or covering much in few words
• Clarity: clearness as to perception or understanding
• Conviction: a fixed or firm beleif

2. Before, During, and After Reading Strategies:

Before Reading:

Build prior knowledge before reading by asking students questions that promote literal and inferential comprehension of the book. This activity can be done in small groups or whole class discussion and students can respond to questions such as

            1. What is a thesaurus? Who might need one?

            2. What is meant in the title by “the right word?”

Ask students to create a venn diagram that compares and contrasts a thesaurus and a dictionary. Ask students to think about why someone would need to use either, what the purpose of both are, and how they can be used for reading and writing.

During Reading:

Encourage students to closely read the lists in the book. Ask students to keep a vocabulary journal in their reading journals as they read the book. Students can “Think Pair Share” their notes for the words they are collecting and discuss their vocabulary words with a partner and write down additional ideas they receive from the discussion.

After Reading:

Split students up into small groups and ask students to assemble a timeline of Roget’s lifetime. Students can use words from the book, or words they’ve been documenting for vocabulary in their reading journal to incorporate into labeling and describing events on their timeline. Students should try to use as many interesting synonyms as they can to describe Roget’s life and can also incorporate photos, or illustrations to portray the events.

Writing Activity:

Provide students with some of their writing assignments from the past and invite them to look back and re-read them. Ask students to search for words that they would like to replace with more meaningful synonyms. Students can use the text, their vocabulary lists, or a thesaurus to search for synonyms to add into their writing assignments.