New board game promises to enthuse word lovers

• Danny and Kim Adlerman published 10 books%2C three videos before %22Compound It All%21%22
• School administrators and youngsters appreciate game%27s educational%2C entertainment value.
• Compound It All%21 builds vocabulary%2C critical-thinking and mathematics skills.

Powerhouse author/illustrator couple Danny and Kim Adlerman of Metuchen have shared a love of words since they met at a publishing house many years ago. Their talents and collaboration have come to fruition through many projects, but has been further fulfilled through a new board game they developed, Compound It All!, which players to build compound words.

Players, young and old, in a classroom or the comfort of their own homes, can expand their vocabulary, critical-thinking skills and math skills through this educational and entertaining experience. The game features card decks of varied levels of difficulty, which can be used separately or in any combination.

Each player is dealt five to seven cards, depending upon the number of players and tries to construct compound words, using words in their hand, draw and discard piles, and "stealing" words from opponents by making new compound words. The round will conclude when the first player runs out of cards, however, the winner holds the most points.

The concept for Compound It All! literally came to Kim Adlerman in a dream and seemed to have stemmed from the couple's previous book, How Much Wood Could A Woodchuck Chuck?" which is contains several compound words.

"One morning, I had a dream that was so annoying that I could not get any restful deep sleep at all. Finally, I woke up at 5:30 a.m., made myself a cup of tea and started thinking about it and couldn't wait until Danny woke up so I could tell him about it," remembered Kim, who felt like she had compound words floating around in her mind quite often.

"I basically started working with one piece of paper, writing all of the basic compound words I could think of like someone, something, anyone, anything, and I ended up with all of these lines and I realized that there are more compound words than I thought there was," she said.

The Adlermans' son, who was in third grade at the time, helped Kim construct cards out of paper and they started playing a rough version of what Compound It All! is today.

Realizing that she was definitely on to something, Kim tried to find a way to organize the concept. She spent over one year with the American Heritage Dictionary every night, writing down every compound word she could find, as well as word matches and cross-referenced them.

"Not everyone can say that they literally had a dream come true," quipped Danny, adding that developing the game does not give credence to the idea that the death of the American dream because, "you have to invest yourself, it doesn't just happen to you."

As this was a new kind of venture for the Adlermans, who have published 10 books and three CDs, they weren't certain about what direction to take.

"The games genre was new to us. We felt like we knew how to turn this into something real but it was a daunting challenge at first," admitted Danny.

The couple became acquainted with a former toy company executive at a toy fair who liked the Adlermans' idea and, several months later, became their agent and connected them with different toy and game companies.

The feedback was strong, however, Danny noted, "As cut-throat as the music and publishing is, the games industry is more so. We had a number of offers but they were not respectful ones."

One evening, while discussing another project with the president of Lee & Low over dinner, Compound It All! became a topic of conversation. After realizing the educational and entertainment value contained in the project, Lee & Low's president decided that the company not only wanted to distribute it, but to be its publisher.

MAKING LEARNING FUN

"What Dan and I have always been about is fun and making learning fun," said Kim. "A lot of people in publishing try to get into nooks and crannies of certain markets but we do what comes naturally and it turns out that when we received reviews about Compound It All!, they mentioned that it was not just fun, but educational."

Danny added, "There is a word as far as I'm concerned about how we get ideas and how we get things out and that is 'organic.' We've been writing and illustrating for a long time, with our ups and downs and we've really found that the way to peoples' hearts and minds through all we have created is for it to be a pure reflection of what is in our hearts and minds."

"If we do what it is that is organic and comes naturally, we will find all kinds of curricula abstracts that it will relate to. We play with words, that's what we do," he said.

"When education and learning is fun, you can't stop someone from learning and that is a concept that has been legislated out of our classrooms. We want to bring the fun back not only into classroom but into larger milieu of family games nights," noted Danny.

"We call it 9 to 99," he said, referring to the age groups that can enjoy playing. "It can also be used as a learning tool in the classroom. When school administrators are looking for ways to reinforce what is in their curricula, here is a tool that is not only appropriate for that age level, but expandable because it has different degrees of difficulty."

Since it has been launched and featured during visits to local schools, the feedback and endorsements have been incredibly supportive.

Muffin Lord, administrative director of the honors program and scholarship administrator at Rutgers University's School of Arts and Sciences, said, "If you are a word-a-holic and if your friends are word-a-holics too, then this is the game for you! It's fun and challenging. We ended up with lots of word discussion and also lots of laughter."

After Danny Adlerman invited her to play the game at the I.L. Peretz Community Jewish School in Somerset recently, librarian Jill Ratzan offered, "This versatile, customizable game includes everything I like best in word games: it combines luck with strategy, competition with collaboration, and even vocabulary with math!"

She continued, "The rules were easy to learn and just as easy to vary depending on players' interests and skills. I especially liked the way the game provides multiple access points – the combination of words, numbers, and dual levels of color coding will appeal to players across a variety of learning styles. Compound It All will be a welcome addition to the toolbox of any educator looking to balance serious vocabulary instruction with fun and engaging activities."

Steven Preville, principal at Benjamin Franklin School in Edison, said, "The game is also another way for adults to interact and will expand their knowledge and thinking skills as it can pertain to crossword puzzles and word searches. I would also promote this type of card playing during recess as it is recreational but connects to curriculum and will expand vocabulary use."

Scott Gallagher, an English teacher at Metuchen High School added, "As an English teacher, it's tough to convince students that words are a medium for creation, the same as paint or clay. That they can be manipulated and changed."

He said he believes Compound It All! proves that kids can actually play with words and have fun doing it.

"I'd play this game with my seven-year-old daughter and my 17-year-old students, and my 70-year-old father!" said Preville.

Compound It All! can be ordered at www.leeandlow.com, where a 25 percent discount will be applied with the coupon code "compound" until Christmas. The game is also available at To Be Continued book store in Metuchen and at Over the Moon toy store in Highland Park.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/DannyandKim?ref=hl