Rhyme & Punishment: Adventures in Wordplay

Following the introduction in which the author provides an explanation of a pun and how he creates them, are four sections. Each is a separate topic: music, animals, food, and geography. In case there are words that the reader might not know, Cleary has included a "pun-unciation" guide that provides a definition and how to pronounce the word. This is a helpful tool, for there will be certain music terms and perhaps countries with which some readers may be unfamiliar. Some of the puns will be simple to read. Others will take a bit more time to decipher. Playing with words and creating puns is a terrific way for children to begin to feel more comfortable with reading. With the humorous cartoon-style illustrations and one or two puns per page, this has an inviting picture-book look. The puns in the geography section will make an interesting introduction when studying other countries. There is a world map at the back of the book with a key to show where each of the mentioned countries is located. There is a bibliography of books with puns and also a list of websites.