Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster

Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster
by Debra Frasier

Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster
List Price: $7.00
Our Price: $3.79
You Save: $3.21 (46%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.73 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Debra Frasier
Brand: Sandpiper
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-09-01
ISBN: 0152060537
Number of pages: 40
Publisher: Sandpiper

Book Reviews of Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster

Book Review: Everyone can enjoy it.
Summary: 5 Stars

Miss Alaineus: a vocabulary disaster by Debra Frasier
I had expected a collection of riddles. "This is a story!" I exclaimed as I opened it, and I began to read it aloud to my Korean friend. I had bought it to help her with English. I couldn't stop reading. It took me about 20 minutes to read the whole thing aloud, with pauses for laughter. This is a wonderful, funny book. My friend took it up to her room. Later she told me, "I couldn't find Miss Alaineus in the dictionary." Many words are defined in the book, including and especially the word miscellaneous. Someone mentioned double meanings, but the double meanings are the names Ms. Frasier gives to the characters in the story, and all of them are defined immediately. This is one of the funniest books I have ever read. It's clearly meant for schools, but everyone can enjoy it.

Summary of Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster

Sage has misheard and misunderstood one of Mrs. Page's weekly vocabulary words. Her error leads to a humbling catastrophe: a momentous tragedy, in front of the entire class. Can Sage turn her vocabulary disaster: an event bringing great misfortune, into a triumph: a true success?

Sniffling and coughing through a week at home with a cold, Sage (one who shows wisdom, experience, judgment") misunderstands one of Mrs. Page's vocabulary words in the homework assignment, and the resulting embarrassment in front of her fifth-grade class leaves her "devastated: wasted, ravaged. Ruined: destroyed. Finished: brought to an end." Miss Alaineus is not, as Sage determined in her "defective and delirious" mind, "the woman on green spaghetti boxes whose hair is the color of uncooked pasta and turns into spaghetti at the ends." Sage slumps home after the vocabulary bee fiasco, to her mom's comforting, if seemingly impossible words: "There's gold in every mistake." Fortunately, and as always, mothers know best.

Debra Frasier (author-illustrator of On the Day You Were Born) has created a masterpiece of clever wordplay in her hilarious and poignant story of the exquisite pain of schoolgirl mortification. One sentence using vocabulary words from A to Z runs along the bottom or side of each page ("Obliterate me, send me to oblivion--no one could outdo my stupidity"). Not just for word-worms, virtually any kid will identify with the occasionally confusing world of learning, and be reassured by the happy conclusion. Frasier's youthful artwork was inspired by her daughter's fifth-grade desk. "No fancy art supplies; just markers, notebook paper, pencils, glue, and scissors." The result is eminently inviting for grade-school children. (Ages 8 to 12) --Emilie Coulter

Emotions & Feelings Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Emotions & Feelings Books
Technical Foul: Winning Season ImageTechnical Foul: Winning Season
by Rich Wallace
Puffin; Published: 2005-06-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.74
Price in other shops: $4.99
Don't Forget I Love You ImageDon't Forget I Love You
by Miriam Moss
Puffin; Published: 2005-12-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.79
Price in other shops: $5.99
Flip-Flop Girl ImageFlip-Flop Girl
by Katherine Paterson
Puffin; Published: 1996-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops: $6.99
Daniel's Duck (I Can Read Book 3) ImageDaniel's Duck (I Can Read Book 3)
by Clyde Robert Bulla
HarperCollins; Published: 1979-11-06; Library Binding; Book
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops: $16.89
It's Hard to Be Five (rpkg): Learning How to Work My Control Panel ImageIt's Hard to Be Five (rpkg): Learning How to Work My Control Panel
by Jamie Lee Curtis
Joanna Cotler; Published: 2004-09-01; Library Binding; Book
Best price: $12.99
Price in other shops: $17.89
Angelina at the Fair (Angelina Ballerina (8x8)) ImageAngelina at the Fair (Angelina Ballerina (8x8))
by Katharine Holabird
Puffin; Published: 2006-01-19; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.98
Price in other shops: $5.99
Red Kayak ImageRed Kayak
by Priscilla Cummings
Puffin Books; Puffin; Published: 2006-04-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.50
Price in other shops: $6.99
Wemberly Worried ImageWemberly Worried
by Kevin Henkes
Greenwillow Books; Published: 2010-04-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.89
Price in other shops: $6.99
The Giving Tree ImageThe Giving Tree
by Shel Silverstein
Harper Collins Publishers; Harper & Row; Published: 1964; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops: $16.99
The Runaway Bunny ImageThe Runaway Bunny
by Margaret Wise Brown
HarperCollins; Published: 1942-06-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.96
Price in other shops: $15.99
Similar Books and other products
It Figures!: Fun Figures of Speech ImageIt Figures!: Fun Figures of Speech
by Marvin Terban
Sandpiper; Sandpiper; Published: 1993-10-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.92
Price in other shops: $7.95
Dear Deer: A Book of Homophones ImageDear Deer: A Book of Homophones
by Gene Barretta
Square Fish; Published: 2010-07-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.13
Price in other shops: $6.99
The Plot Chickens ImageThe Plot Chickens
by Mary Jane Auch, Herm Auch
Holiday House; Holiday House; Published: 2010-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.24
Nothing Ever Happens On 90th Street ImageNothing Ever Happens On 90th Street
by Roni Schotter
Scholastic; Scholastic; Published: 1999-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.91
Price in other shops: $6.99
The Boy Who Loved Words ImageThe Boy Who Loved Words
by Roni Schotter
Schwartz & Wade; Schwartz & Wade; Published: 2006-03-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.88
Price in other shops: $16.95
Voices in the Park ImageVoices in the Park
by DK Publishing, Anthony Browne
DK Publishing; DK CHILDREN; Published: 2001-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.76
Price in other shops: $7.99
Crazy Like a Fox: A Simile Story ImageCrazy Like a Fox: A Simile Story
by Loreen Leedy
Holiday House; Published: 2009-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.95
Silent Letters Loud and Clear ImageSilent Letters Loud and Clear
by Robin Pulver
Holiday House; Published: 2010-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.63
Price in other shops: $6.95
In a Pickle: And Other Funny Idioms ImageIn a Pickle: And Other Funny Idioms
by Marvin Terban
Sandpiper; Sandpiper; Published: 2007-06-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.12
Price in other shops: $7.99
Punctuation Takes a Vacation ImagePunctuation Takes a Vacation
by Robin Pulver
Holiday House; Holiday House; Published: 2004-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.15
Price in other shops: $7.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories