Mad as a Wet Hen!: And Other Funny Idioms
Grade 3-6 Whether children find themselves ``under the weather'' or ``in the dog house,'' idioms are always with them. This playful look at our challenging lan guage provides definitions of 136 such col loquial expressions, including brief histor ical explanations for nearly half of them. As he did in In a Pickle (Clarion, 1983), Terban interprets some of the idioms which make English conversation so col orful and, at times, confusing. Maestro's two-color cartoon-like illustrations are amusing and informative themselves, pro viding visual clues that support the textual explanations. No one can help laughing at the obvious discomfort expressed by the anthropomorphic carrots as they are dropped ``in hot water'' by a benign-look ing rabbit chef. Although some of the ex pressions included are dated, the alpha betical index enables teachers and librarians to pick and choose. This book might be particularly beneficial in schools having a large ESL program, especially for older, more advanced students. It is a pleasant, although non-essential browsing item, useful as an adjunct to the language arts program. Martha Rosen, Edgewood School, Scarsdale,Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.