Ashimpa: The Mysterious Word

In this absurdist grammatical romp, Sobral, making her U.S. debut, imagines what happens after a once-lost word is mysteriously rediscovered. When a researcher finds the word ashimpa in an old dictionary, everybody is baffled about its meaning. The story is set in a city whose buildings are formed from blocky shapes of stained-glass colors embellished with black lines, and the nattily dressed, largely pale-skinned urbanites within seem to rely on old-fashioned dial phones to communicate. Someone thinks to ask 137-year-old Mrs. Zulmira about the mysterious word, and she declares that “it’s a regular verb: to ashimp.” Ordinary people adopt this use (“Momm!... I burned the cake.” “Just ashimp it!”), until a linguist indicates that analysis proves it’s actually a noun. Now everyone wants to buy an ashimpa, until research reveals that the rediscovered word is an adjective. Sobral’s extended examination of the term plays with basic parts of speech while considering how language can change and morph—with and without experts’ input. Ages 3–7. (May)