title
Miss Alaineus illustration I was tenth, and when Mrs. Page called out my word, I spelled:“Capital M-I-S-S, capital A-L-A-I-N-E-U-S,“ and added, “the woman on green spaghetti boxes whose hair is the color of uncooked pasta and turns into spaghetti at the ends.“ There was a moment of silence in the room...
Miss Alaineus, A Vocabulary Disaster is a hilarious romp through the usually not-so-funny world of vocabulary. Sage misses school due to a cold and from there the misunderstanding begins. But “miscellaneous” is finally revealed for the word it truly is, and Sage manages to redeem herself in a marvelous and inspiring creative leap.
Miss Alaineus book jacket
Miss Alaineus illustration To my astonishment: great shock and amazement, I won a gold trophy for The Most Original Use of a Word in the Tenth Annual Vocabulary Parade.
So this time Mom was right. There was gold in this mistake. And next year I think I'm going to be...
Awards for Miss Alaineus, A Vocabulary Disaster
  • International Reading Association Children’s Choice Award
  • International Reading Association Teacher’s Choice Award
  • Offspring Magazine, Best Book of the Year
  • Oprah’s Summer Reading List Selection
Classroom Support

Click on icon to download a PDF file of each curriculum guide.
voabulary parade icon

Stage Your Own Vocabulary Parade...Three pages of ideas and directions. Perfect classroom or school-wide project.
(3 pages)
word game icon

Word Games from Miss Alaineus...Vocabulary Swap, Name Nouns, Miscellaneous-isms, and Mrs. Pages' Extra Credit Assignment. (2 pages)
art project icon

Art Project directions...Use classroom lined paper to build striped pictures. Or, design costumes for the Mis-characters, or create a scrapbook of past costumes, like Sage's album.   (1 page)