Away With Words

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But for as gently funny as the book is, it would all be for naught if it were not a brisk read. He could have easily overdone it and put every good pun he heard in his text. The edit job to take a lot of those out, I assume, wisely confined the puns to two primary usages: ‘what it feels like to pun’ and the plot-advancing ‘here’s who won this Punderdome.’ (I wonder if you could really do this book if there wasn’t a competitive aspect to it. I’ve never read The Pun Also Rises and I don’t want to.) Berkowitz does a great job of making you like him, and like puns. But what bothered me more than the length/content was the author's writing style, marked by an over-reliance on similes, many of them poorly executed. For example, when describing an audience, he notes that there are "vape pens galore, like shiny pan flutes at a Ren fair.”

Set in a world where words appear physically when people speak, AWAY WITH WORDS explores the importance of communication and being there for those we love. This book had a paradoxical effect on me. I love puns and use them a lot on social media, and while reading this I found myself thinking of them even more than usual. But it also made me kind of hate them, and the people who can’t stop using them. A tale of two pun competitions, so… the best of times, the wurst of times (because things can get hammy, you see). If that doesn’t completely do your head in, or get on your nerves, you might be able to handle this book. Plus, your lobe of words indicates you have a lot of skull. Or something. What we’re all building may be epically pointless and ephemeral—an inside joke that never catches on, a loud parade through a ghost town—but I am nonetheless fully invested in helping it come together.” (86) Because: “Pun competitions that seem like something that could only exist in the frivolous present.” (54) In a transient place like this part of Brooklyn, these ideas capture the zeitgeist of the Punder world. Gala and her dad, Jordi, have just moved from home in Cataluna to a town in Scotland, to live with Jordi's boyfriend Ryan. Gala doesn't speak much English, and feels lost, lonely and unable to be her usual funny self. Until she befriends Natalie, a girl with selective mutism. The two girls find their own ways to communicate, which includes collecting other people's discarded words. They use the words to write anonymous supportive poems for their classmates, but then someone begins leaving nasty messages using the same method - and the girls are blamed.I am not into poems, so while I appreciated the efforts of the two girls, I couldn’t feel as emotionally moved. Somehow, the writing kept me at a distance. In this new middle grade/YA Cameron has again used elements of fantasy to explore real issues that face young people.

A beautiful exploration of grief, hope, and what it means to be human, Cameron weaves themes of ethics, AI, friendship and first love with a compelling mystery and bewitchingly-described Scottish location. This is an outstanding middle-grade debut from one of my favourite authors.” Simon James Green, author of Life of RileyBut Away With Words never takes itself seriously, and all that exegesis is pretty much unnecessary. The meat of the reading experience is to be viscerally immersed in the world of Punderdome, because it's fun. The bond between Jordi and Ryan comes out beautifully. I liked how the same-sex relationship was written without going over the top about the “two dads” factor. It was a realistic depiction. Our primary mission is to provide an unlimited number of sign language and CDI interpreters to the greater Pacific Northwest Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Deaf/Blind community, with personal attention and professional service that meets your highest expectations. Gala has finally started adapting to her new life in Scotland and is determined to find the culprit. Can she and Natalie show the school who they really are?