Grade 2-4-A gentle, thoughtful story of a young African-American boy’s discovery of the power of words. Each time a word strikes Donavan as special (e.g., extraterrestrial, orchestral, perseverance, boisterous), he writes it down on a slip of paper and puts it in a jar. When his collection no longer fits in its container, he asks several people (Mom, his teacher, Dad, Grandma) what to do, but in a serendipitous way comes upon the solution himself. While visiting his Grandma, the other senior citizens in her building find that reading the words they pull from the jar is just what they need to cheer them up, and Donavan realises the pleasure of sharing. While this book is not a fast-paced page-turner, the 10 chapters are short, and an appealing black-and-white illustration appears in each one. This title builds readers’ vocabulary in a palatable way, and could be used in conjunction with a lesson on using the dictionary.Janet M. Bair, Trumbull Library, CTCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.