Just in time for the summer Olympics, here’s a rhyming picture book about a different kind of sports event, the Thistle Games. Subtitled “a braw Scots story for bairns,” this Picture Kelpies imprint book from Scotland gives a lovely introduction to traditional Scottish games and competitions and also to all those fun Scottish words. How many of these do you know? (The definitions are in white font, so that if you move your cursor to highlight the spaces immediately after the word, you can read the definition.)

Dour: stern, severe

Dwam: a blank or dreamy state of mind

Gie-ing it laldy: giving it energy and enthusiasm

Havering: talking nonsense (I thought it meant wanting or desiring.)

Hirple: to limp or hobble

Keek: a peek or glance

Lugs: ears

Mingin: stinky

Numpty: a silly person

Skiver: someone who dodges work

Sleekit: sneaky, cunning Isn’t this word used in that Burns poem about the mouse?

Spurtle: a short stick for stirring porridge

Stookie: a plaster cast

The fun thing is that you don’t have to memorize these words in your study of Scotland: they’re all used in the rhyming text of this rollicking good story about a community picnic, games competition, and musical event, with races, food, shopping and dancing. Unless you’re a numpty or in a dwam, you should queue up and take a keek at this braw Scots story.

Thistle, by the way, is a made-up place and the Thistle Games are imaginary, too, but real in the sense of being played by Scots, old and young. The authors have written two other “Thistle” books: Thistle Street and Thistle Sands.