A First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Our Children Need to Know [Paperback]

E. D. Hirsch Professor of English (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 25, 1996

This revised edition of A First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy offers the common core of knowledge children should have by the end of grade school. E. D. Hirsch, author of the best-selling Cultural Literacy and co-author of The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, has updated his popular children's version for a generation that needs not only a solid grounding in the arts and sciences but a clear understanding of the world around them - from world geography to the World Wide Web. Inviting and informative, the book is organized by subject, including mythology, history, religion and philosophy, music, art, geography, medicine, technology, and many more. No other book gives children so much of the world, from ancient history to current technology, in one engaging volume.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

E.D. Hirsch, Jr. is the Linden Kent Memorial Professor of English at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and the author of Cultural Literacy, The First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, and The Core Knowledge Series. Dr. Hirsch is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has been a senior fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is president of the Core Knowledge Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to educational reform.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; Second Edition edition (November 25, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395823528
• ISBN-13: 978-0395823521
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,501,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Errors of fact to a point of comedy, November 19, 2001

By 

ron neswald (Burlingame, California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Our Children Need to Know (Paperback)

Serious students -- even young ones -- will find laughable errors in this poorly edited reference. Three examples follow:

My fifth grade students, who routinely measure angles in radians to solve school problems, were amused that, on page 185, the author insists that "angles are always measured in degrees."

In science class, the students learned (on page 214) that plants and animals are different organisms. Then, they learned (same page) that "a carnivor is an animal that..." and immediately found a highlighted section that says "Some plants, such as the Venus flytrap, are carnivors." This cracked up the kids who have just had an introduction to simple logic.

Our favorite lesson came when the author taught us that light travels much farther in a minute than it does in a year! This we learned by comparing page 202 ("A light year is the distance light travels in a year, about six million miles.") with page 205 ("Light travels at about 186,000 miles per second..."). It didn't take the smartest fifth-grader to multiply 186,000 by 60 and report that light travels more than eleven million miles in a minute, but only six million miles in an E.D. Hirsch year (page 202).

In fact, other errors abound, and the main use of this book in my classes has been to warn youngsters that "it ain't necessarily so" and to fuel our running contest to see who can find other errors in "What Children Need to Know."

48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buyer's note: Child user's version, August 2, 1999

By 

Erich Heidenreich "Caspar" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Our Children Need to Know (Paperback)

Potential Buyer's should note that this is the child user's version of the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy for children to use and easily understand as a grade-school reference. Amazon also sell the 1993 adult's version.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dictionary of Cultural Literacy is quick reference for all, April 28, 2001

By 

Brenda F. Walsh (State College, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: What Our Children Need to Know (Paperback)

As an "over-fifty" college graduate with occasional lapses (or suspicions of such lapses)the children's version of E.D.Hirsch, Jr.'s A FIRST DICTIONARY OF CULTURAL LITERACY is an excellent reference to confirm facts quickly and accurately. It is not a substitute for encyclopedias or scholarly references but does fairly accurately and succinctly confirm facts that comprise a fund of knowledge common to all Americans. Although it was originally purchased for use by our elementary age children, it is a reference that I turn to for quick confirmation.