mrs. ima wordlover is what her name suggests—a word lover. she is a teacher. she likes to make up word games for her students to play. she wants her games to show that words can be fun. she wants her games to show that using words can be serious.

she knows that words and imagination are a team. when imagination creates a story, words bring the story to life. she knows that words can have more than one meaning. she knows some words make us feel good. she knows some words make us hurt. for mrs. wordlover, a word game is a lesson. and she wants every word to belong to every child. every classroom has rules. mrs. wordlover's rules look and sound different. for some, they are funny. for others, they are weird (jiggery-pokery). by the end of class, it all makes sense. and the students have a lesson on idioms.