The Kid Dictionary will help you – uncool parent – transform your vocabulary into kid currency. Stuff of legend that makes children and adults everywhere laugh. So, after you finish your wardrodeo this morning with squirmy toddler, read my book review to find out if you have a Kidgilante, a Scamplifier or a Hairricane.

I love dictionaries. I am a purist at heart though, so I often find it jarring when people make words up, or turn a verb into a noun, or vice versa. For a couple of years I freelanced as a proofreader/editor to make more money when I was on contract at a newspaper in southern Ontario still waiting on an actual staff position with benefits. I was a book reviewer back then too. It was fun work that appealed to my sense of grammatical order and rules. Then one day someone sent me an ad to proofread that stated something like: Grow your money. Now this was 10 years ago and frankly the phrase was fingernails on chalkboard for me. Apparently it was visionary because now this type of usage is everywhere and it is okay. In recent years, I have overcome my purist perfectionist tendencies – unless we are talking about spelling. I mean, really, spell check people. No excuses. Some of you grammatical purists may find this humorous, quirky, fun dictionary of kid things, events and ideas a little unusual and maybe even jarring. But it is comedy, pure and simple. The Kid Dictionary is also an entertaining little trivia type book that has won a place on my tween daughter’s overflowing book shelf and makes her laugh endlessly.

The Kid Dictionary is filled with words that you may never have heard of such as: Wishjack: defined as the act of highjacking your sibling’s birthday cake so you can blow out the candles and make your own wish. It is also remarkably clever – Churchuckle is the thing kids do when they laugh maniacally at an inappropriate time when they are supposed to be silent (as in at church.) It is laugh out loud funny.

Creator Eric Ruhaltor works in television and studied economics at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. His biography states that his education taught him he had no interest in economic theories and principles and so, he became a writer. He works in television in New York City and lives in New Jersey with his wife, three children and assorted animals.

The Kid Dictionary gets a $$$$ out of $$$$$ for making me and my children laugh.

In answer to the original question above: Shampoon is the thing kids do when they step out of the shower with shampoo still obviously in their hair. A Kidgilante is the kid that reports you from the backseat of the car every time you run a red light or commit some legal infraction. A scamplifier is a little kid that yells everything. A Hairricane is an event we have here every day! Otherwise known as that mess of bed-head tangles and the ensuing screams of horror and temper tantrums that result when Mom or Dad tries to brush hair.

The Kid Dictionary, by Eric Ruhalter is published by Sourcebooks, New York and is $9.99 US, 215 pages long, available in stores and at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

I received a copy of this book to facilitate review. My opinion is all my own and 100% honest.