The American Heritage Children's Thesaurus [Hardcover]

Paul Hellweg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 10, 2003 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Even young writers have to think about choosing the right word. This popular, easy-to-use thesaurus can help children in the middle grades make the best choice to suit their meaning and enliven their writing.
• 4,000 main entries, with more than 36,000 synonyms in all • Hundreds of Word Group and Antonym features for extra word power

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Is this a conventional thesaurus? Regular and standard? Or would you say it was more extraordinary--exceptional and outstanding? Paul Hellweg's The American Heritage Children's Thesaurus is both, actually. It provides everything you'd expect from a children's thesaurus--4,000 words with over 36,000 synonyms--but it is unusually clear and colorfully presented. Each deep purple entry includes its part of speech in italics, and lists the suggested synonyms in bold, best matches first. Each word is used in a sentence to clarify its meaning. Color photographs are sprinkled throughout for visual relief, and "Antonyms" and "Word Groups" boxes help expand vocabulary choices. Word groups are reserved for words like "international," which doesn't have a real synonym but a cluster of closely related words such as "communal, global, national, planetary, universal," and "worldwide." If your favorite students tend to overuse words like "nice," "funny," and "weird" (and who doesn't, really?), this handy reference will have them turning a phrase with finesse. (Ages 8 to 12) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-7?In this thesaurus, the entries appear in dark purple type and are followed by the part of speech in smaller italic black type. A solid diamond then indicates in bold type the best choices of synonyms. Next, an open diamond gives other synonyms that don't fit the example sentence as well as the first group or are related words. Lastly, a sentence is given as a usage example. If a word can be more than one part of speech, each part is treated separately. For words that do not have actual synonyms, a boxed entry gives a group of closely related words. Boxed entries are also used for antonyms of 110 selected words. These boxes, along with approximately two-inch by three-inch full-color photographs, break up the text and give the book a user-friendly look. Homographs are listed as separate entries. There are no cross references or pronunciation guides. A four-page explanation of how to use the thesaurus is given at the beginning and an index of the antonyms and word groups appears at the end. The pages are attractive with an orange stripe across the top, green guide words, and a mix of type size and style. With 4000 entries and over 36,000 synonyms in an easy-to-read format, this resource should serve well the needs of its intended audience.?Priscilla Bennett, Research, Media and Technology, State University of West Georgia
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (July 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618280243
• ISBN-13: 978-0618280247
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,219,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #37 in Books > Children's Books > Education & Reference > Almanacs
  • #37 in Books > Children's Books > Education & Reference > Thesauri

More About the Author

Paul Hellweg is a freelance writer and author of The Insomniac's Dictionary. He is an assistant professor at California State University, Northridge. The author currently resides in Frazier Park, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Perfect Children's Thesaurus, January 6, 2002

By 

R. Watson (Gladwyne, Pa USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The American Heritage Children's Thesaurus (Hardcover)

The American Heritage Thesaurus is a must reference book for any home with children. Each researched word, printed in blue large bold print, is accompanied with the a description, printed in black, of the part(s) of speech the word can be used, several best choice synonyms, and a few lesser utilized synonyms. In addition, an example sentence incorporating the researched word is provided. Occassionally a list of antonyms is provided for the researched word. Researched words are easily located as a result of a large space between each word. Each two page spread usually contains one or two color photographs adding some visual appeal. In summary, this thesaurus is highly recommended and is an invaluable resource for any child of reading age.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So Good My Teacher's Getting a Classroom Set for Christmas!, November 17, 2007

By 

Gearhead Girl (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The American Heritage Children's Thesaurus (Hardcover)

I was looking for a good thesaurus for my 3rd grader, one that he could grow with. Good writing is all about good words and new ways of saying things. Everyone should have a thesaurus! I love this one. After receiving it, I liked it so much I wanted to buy a class set for my school. First I wanted to make sure everyone liked it as much as I did. My Mom, an elementary school librarian, praised its clear format. My son's teacher loves the pictures, the antonyms and that words are used in an example. The school Prinicipal said American Heritage is always his favorite too. After all that, I am ordering a classroom set for my son's 3rd grade teacher. I am hoping that eventually there will be one for each student 3rd grade and up!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A helpful children's thesaurus, January 5, 2011

By 

Maria "Shopping Mom" (Irvine, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The American Heritage Children's Thesaurus (Hardcover)

This is a good beginner's thesaurus and it works for my 8-year old daughter. She seems to know all the vocabulary words in it already, so I would say 8 is the max age for this. My issue with the thesaurus is that it doesn not list the alphabet on every page spread on the right hand side in the margin. We have the American Heritage Children's Dictionary which is very good and DOES have the alphabet on every page spread. That's why I am puzzled that the thesaurus doesn't have it. This is immeasurably helpful for early dictionary/thesaurus users. Having that visual available would reinforce in young children learning the order of the alphabet and encourage them to use a thesaurus or dictionary. Not having that makes it harder.