Paul M. Levitt is professor of English at the University of Colorado, Boulder. In addition to The Weighty Word Book, he has cowritten other children's books, including How Raven Found the Daylight and Other American Indian Stories and The Stolen Appaloosa and Other Indian Stories with Elissa S. Guralnick, former professor of English, University of Colorado. Douglas A. Burger is an associate professor of English, University of Colorado, Boulder. Janet Stevens has written, adapted, or illustrated numerous award-winning books for children, including And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon (Child Magazine Best Children's Book List, 2001), Tops & Bottoms (Disney NAPPA Book from LA Parent), and The Three Billy Goats Gruff (Parents Choice Award).

[The Weighty Word Book] will appeal to kids who want to sound as smart as they are. It offers a clever, funny way to introduce new words into the vocabulary.... There's one word for every letter of the alphabet - wait until you see what they do with dogmatic, juxtapose and zealot. - The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colorado) ""Each of these twenty-six short stories takes an elaborate, circuitous path that leads to a 'weighty' one-word punch line.... It's a creative and humorous approach to vocabulary building, and a natural lead in to having students create their own tall tales with multisyllabic conclusions."" - Library School Journal