I knew that the roots of many common words started with a bird or an animal, I just did not know how many! Dog Days and Dandelions: a Lively Guide to the Animal Meanings Behind Everyday Words, by Martha Barnette, explained them to me. This is a fun book, but read it just a little at a time, otherwise it's just a bit much. (Not an original idea, it's suggested in the introduction). ;-)

That book reminded me of Animalia, by Graeme Base filled with clever text and delightfully detailed illustrations for each letter. Even the tiniest of details starts with the proper letter. Still fun even after all these years. ;-)

New to me was Take Away the A: an Alphabeast of a Book, by Michael Escoffier, and illustrated by Kris Di Giacomo. What a fun alphabet book this is! As the title implies, there are two words using each letter and when that letter is removed, a new word is created. (Four to Fur, Seven to Seen, etc.)

On May 20th, Jeopardy! aired show 7000! That brought back memories of two books. The Jeopardy! Book: the Answers, the Questions, the Facts and Stories of the Greatest Game Show in History, by Alex Trebek and Peter Barsocchini. There's the history of the show, how it got the name Jeopardy!, early contestants, what it's like to be on stage and so on. There's even a copy of the theme music. A bit dated now, but the answers and questions provided are still fun. Prisoner of Trebekistan: a Decade in Jeopardy! was written by Bob Harris, someone who 'won big' after failing the written exam several times. He also had one of the biggest losses, too, as I remember. (It's been a while since I read this). ;-) It's a first hand look at what it was like to be on the show, in several Tournament of Champions, meeting Alex Trebek and others on the crew .... overall just a nice, humorous read.

Reading Hermit With Dog