Sardoodledom by Krishna Dalal
How do you say sardoodledom? Can you spell it? Sardoodledom, definition means overly dramatic, almost unbelievable. I didn’t even know this word existed until I picked up this adorable picture book called Sardoodledom: A Spelling Bee Tale by local author Krishna Dalal.
This sweet little book with wonderful illustrations is a story about an annual elementary spelling bee. It takes place in the auditorium of Jefferson Elementary School. The students, Chloe, Ryan, Juan and Hannah, are the main characters that are participating in the annual spelling bee. But this really isn’t an ordinary spelling bee, because it is all about a play on words. The students use homophones, oxymorons, palindromes, rhymes and knock knock jokes to spell or define their words. Because of the fabulous play on words, this isn’t just a story for children but one for tweens, teens and adults too, especially if you ever participated in a spelling bee. Not only will readers learn some new words, but learn that spelling bees can actually be lots of fun, full of excitement or even complete sardoodledom. Of course the story isn’t a story until a surprise character comes along and puts in a sting into the plot. But you have to read it to find out what happens.
I found this story to be wildly creative. The author was very creative in using word plays with the spelling words to make this story very unique. The illustrations are very whimsical and the illustrator did a wonderful job creating characters with their adorable personalities.
Sardoodledom can be a great read-aloud because it really engages students and provides for many teachable moments. I would even recommend using this story in a classroom. This is a great book for children ages 6-10 (but of course it can be read to younger ones as well with some explanation of the terms.)
You can find this fabulous book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble online.
This is definitely a must for any library, home or school. I hope to see more from this new and imaginative author.
