Word of the Week/Lester Fizz, Bubble-Gum Artist

It's time for our Word of the Week feature here at LitLad. Here's how it works: Every Sunday the boys and I read a book from which they pick their favorite-sounding unfamiliar word. They each write the word that night and we try to use it in conversation as much as we can throughout the week. According to The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, "the only words children learn having heard them only once are the words you wish you had never said in front of them."

This week's word is flabbergasted, an adjective meaning "shocked; surprised."

And we're reading Lester Fizz, Bubble-Gum Artist, in which Lester's family is flabbergasted when he wins a blue ribbon for his bubble-gum art.

Lester Fizz, Bubble-Gum Artist
Author/illustrator: Ruth Spiro/Thor Wickstrom
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (August 2008)
Source: Public library

Lester's family is full of artists: Winslow and Cornell, Vincent and Claude, and on and on. Lester's artwork pales in comparison to that of his talented cousins, aunts, and uncles. He wants to be an artist, too, but the only thing he's good at is blowing bubbles. When Uncle Edgar gives Lester some advice, Lester listens, and all of a sudden he realizes that he can turn his bubble-blowing into an art form. Lester practices his newfound art, but when his tooth falls out during his rendition of Rodin's The Thinker, his bubble bursts and his confidence goes with it. After a visit and some reassurance from the tooth fairy (Edgar Degas in a tutu), Lester is ready to face his family and impress them with his bubble-gum art.

Tintin's note: I liked how he blew all the bubbles. They were like artists' paintings.

Johnny Boo's note: It was good and I freaked out.

Find it: Amazon, IndieBound