Salinger's writing is like a bear in the kitchen, tearing into the tender truth of everyday life with unpredictable swipes from sharp linguistic claws "capable of ripping through a refrigerator's skin." A grappling hook in a stingray, a red-tailed hawk on a bark covered fence post, an outdated pack of Twizzlers - Salinger describes familiar images with "the choreographed precision of slow motion pistons," scientifically accurate and unsentimentally clear.

An irreverent poke at vocabulary definitions. Words such as "capricious, equivocal, mitigate," and "instigate" can be baffling and nerve-racking to young adults, especially when they need to demonstrate their knowledge in the classroom or on an exam. Poet Michael Salinger defuses the tension by offering his own tongue-in-cheek definitions that students will surely commit to memory. Giving each word a personality all its own, Salinger creates mini story lines and amusing images, full of wit and irony, that will keep readers chuckling. Cartoonist Sam Henderson's hilarious drawings add to the...