Customer Reviews

The American Heritage Student Dictionary

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My six year old needed a dictionary to look up words for her Junior Great Books homework. At first, I was drawn to dictionaries written for 8-10 year olds. They had larger print and flashier, more colorful pictures. Unfortunately, they didn't do the job of providing definitions for the unfamiliar words we needed to define (this week we needed to find tun, puncheon, bewail, and beadle.) I was forced to look at dictionaries aimed at an older audience and found that many were just not visually appealing. I didn't want a bland reference book that would be opened as little as necessary. I wanted something worth flipping through on a rainy day.

When I opened this one up, I was pleased to see a good number of color photographs. On one two page spread, for example, there are pictures of Thelonius Monk, a Monolith (on Easter Island), the Sydney Monorail, James Monroe, a montage (of photographs showing things in London), and Maria Montessori. The photos are clear and well chosen; I learned what a mummer and a samovar are by just flipping through and finding interesting photos of them. Even more importantly, it actually had definitions for the words my daughter was looking for, in type that wasn't too small for her to read!

This dictionary uses the pronunciation you're familiar with from collegiate dictionaries, with a small key for the symbols printed on the bottom left hand margin of every two page spread. It's a nice "training wheel" in the transition to this formal way of writing pronunciations. There are also shaded boxes in some of the outside margins that give information about word building, usage, geography, and science. A few short biographies are also included in colored boxes in the margins. I found these to be interesting and informative for kids and adults alike (do you know what the words enthuse, donate, and diagnose have in common?) A two page spread with the periodic table is found after the entry for "element," rather than at the back or front of the book in a reference section; similar space is dedicated to other words like "taxonomy" and "solar system." Simple etymology for many words is included at the end of the entries. For example, for acupuncture it says "First written down in 1684 in English : Latin acus, needle + English puncture."

The scope of this dictionary makes it useful as a family reference book throughout elementary and middle school. It has all of the words your kids will encounter in their reading, plus a few words that might be new to most adults.

The American Heritage Student Dictionary contains concise, easy to read definitions and helpful pictures, mostly of animals, historical figures, and illustrations of abstract concepts. The pictures are in black and white, but for the age that this reference tool is focused, I believe color pictures would have made the pages come to life more. The dictionary includes periodic table, taxonomy chart, historical era chart, and weights & measurements charts spread thoughout the book. I would have preferred these charts all at the beginning or end for easier usage.

When I started school this year, the dictionary I had had writing that was hard for me to read. This dictionary is perfect for middle school students. It has all the middle school words, with easy to read print.

The American Heritage Student Dictionary was a great choice for my son and our family. My son has a lot more vocabulary and other work that requires him to be able to pronounce and know the meaning of words this year in 4th grade. This dictionary has been very easy to read and follow. The pictures in the margins make it fun to look up other stuff that is just for fun.

I highly recommend this dictionary for any student that is reading with fluency and comprehension. For some students that may be 2nd grade or it might be 5th grade. I hope all parents will sit with there child and go through this book with them to strengthen their childs ability to use a dictionary.

Great layout, well illustrated for information and interest. My second grader is using it for her homework which involves looking up definitions of spelling/vocab words. This was much more student-friendly than the large classic Webster's edition, easier to find an understandable definition that a second-grader could read. Most (all?)of her words have had an example sentence that helps understand how the word might be used in context. My only suggestion...our old dictionary had those thumb-cut-out tab sorts of things that let you easily thumb to a particular letter quickly...no such help here, and it can be painfully slow for her to find where a particular letter starts. We actually used the post-it mini tabs to make our own landmarks to turn to.
Overall a great choice and I am sure it will be suitable through junior high and beyond.

I am in high school and was in serious need of a decent dictionary. I didn't want to spend a fortune either. I saw this dictionary and gave it a try... I LOVE IT! Great pictures and nice quality. Very helpful! My friend ended up buying one also and enjoys it as much as I have. I highly recommend!

This is a decent student dictionary. I had thought it would have more pictures, and the reviews led me to believe there were sentence examples and synonyms for ALL words. There aren't. Still, it's a decent dictionary for upper elementary and middle school kids. It's not as costly as the really great ones so if you want to pay under $30 for a student dictionary, this is your best bet.

This dictionary is exactly what I was looking for! It is the perfect transition between a children's dictionary and an adult dictionary. It has many wonderful, student friendly features, including lots of color photos, sample sentences, and a pronunciation guide on every pair of facing pages. I'm sure this will prove to be an invaluable resource to our homeschool in the coming years.

I bought the dictionary and thesaurus for our homeschool library. I love them both. They are easy to use and include pictures of selected entries. Some entries have a full page dedicated to them, like geologic time, and solar system. The book also includes biographical information. At the front of the book a lesson in dictionary use, as well as parts of speech and other helpful language arts tid bits can be found. My six year old can use this dictionary, and she will continue to use it for quite some time. It is NOT one of those kids' dictionaries full of pictures. It is quite helpful and user friendly!

This dictionary is affordable and verb friendly. I purchased it for a parent learning English because it includes verb conjugations. Turns out, my students prefer it for the very same reason.