Customer Reviews

Merriam-Webster Children's Dictionary

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Comprehensive, well illustrated, and written to be understood by children aged 9 - 12. The definitions of most words searched have been easily understood by my nine year old son. Some definitions have necessitated my participation to provide a more simplified explanation. A further noted weakness of the dictionary is that a significant number of words fail to provide an example of its use in a sentence. A more consistent usage of this feature would have resulted in a 5 star rating. These faults, however, are minor and should not deter the reader from purchasing this dictionary. Some noteworthy unexpected strengths of the dictionary was the inclusion of a reference section containing maps of the world and seven continents, illustrations of the flags of the world, a list of the 50 states and their capitals, and a listing of the Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the United States. A recommended companion to the dictionary is The American Heritage Children Thesaurus.

DK is the absolute best when it comes to non-fiction books for children. This illustrated dictionary is no exception. DK's style is clean, simple, and well-illustrated with color photos of the actual objects. Not only does this dictionary serve as a great reference tool, many children would enjoy sitting down and flipping through it just for fun. The illustrations will hold children's attention. If you don't already have a dictionary for your child, this is the one to get. And it is priced VERY reasonably. I work in a bookstore and recommend this one often.

I bought the second copy in 6 months a week ago and gave it to a friend as a gift to their children. And they really loved it.

Its DK! Yes that matters. DK has mastered the art of making dictionaries. I have used DK Oxford American Illustrated dictionary. Dk made it so wonderful that when I sit with it I spend atleast 15 minutes. Wesbter knows how to convey the meaning of a word.

So you combine the best of DK and Webster you get this masterpiece. The salesrank for this book is less than 2000 and that tells you how popular this book is. I would just go ahead and buy it if I am thinking of buying 'a' book for children.

For children this book is a treasure from which they can learn new words seeing lots of pictures. If a kid wants to know what a fruit is he looks at fruit here he will also be able to learn all about fruits and types of fruits like dry fruits, etc. he turns the pages to fruit and finds the pictures of all kinds of fruits and that makes him recognise what a fruit is and what all fruits he eats.

There are 4000 pictures. Other books boast of 2000 pictures but they arent even close and all they got are bad and small pictures. All they carry is a small picture of an apple or something while explaining fruit. Also if you see letters XYZ alone you will see lot of pictures in this book. Its the best book rated in America and I have seen all children's dictionaries recently.

I had an option of choosing between this one and World children's dictionary which costs less. But I realised that a bad dictionary is no better than not having one. So I chose this one and its a perfect gift for my cousins. So if you are looking for a book to gift some kids, grab this one.

I've been looking for a good dictionary for my 3rd grader, and have fallen in love with the DK Merriam Webster.

Our experience with the Scholastic First Dictionary had been unfortunate -- four of the four words she did not understand in a recent spelling homework had failed to make it into that dictionary at all. In contrast, the DK Merriam-Webster has had a rich set of words that seem to meet her demands. I am in danger of ceasing to be her walking dictionary!

Definitions are simple without being too watered down. For instance, we recently passed an opossum on the road. When she looked up opossum, there was a good picture, and a definition that it is "a common American animal related to the kangaroos that lives mostly in trees and is active at night." She was able to latch on to "related to the kangaroos" and "active at night" more easily than learning that it was a nocturnal marsupial.

In the back of the dictionary are reference sections that are brief but informative.

The layout of the dictionary is excellent, a good mix of pictures and text, and a nice color-coding scheme for alphabetical indexing. At the bottom of each page are examples of how to pronounce the phonetic symbols the book uses.

The heft of the book is good for a kid -- my daughter has mentioned several times that it feels like a "real" book -- but not unmanageable.

We'll have to see if the dictionary can truly take her through 8th grade or if she graduates to an adult dictionary before then. Either way, this book will have prepared her for a full adult dictionary very well.

This dictionary is very kid-friendly; colored markers on the pages make it easy to find the letter you want to look up and the pictures are extensive and intriguing. However, in using this dictionary with K-6th grade students, I have found that it is lacking many words above a 4th grade level, and I have had to revert back to the good ol' Oxford English Dictionary many a time. If you are looking for a dictionary for grades 1-4 this one is great.

I initially bought this dictionary for my Grandchildren. It answers some of the many questions asked by my 6 and 10 year old Grands. I would have rated it a 5, but feel that a bit more explanation should have been provided for some words.

Nevertheless, I find my two Grands picking it up on their own. I am ordering more of them as gifts to family members who have discovered it on my kitchen counter and took an interest in it for their children.

Recommended!!

RND

This is the best dicitonary for young children. The vast number of definitions and words make it very useful in the classroom as well as at home. The illustrations just capture a child's attention and helps them to associate the word with the picture. The definitions a clear and precise. Sample sentences also help greatly in understanding the use of the word. The pronunciation notes are a godsend as well. This is the best dicitonary for primary and elementary school age children. It will help them along until they are ready to use the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dicitonary.

I have a 6 and 8 year old who love this book! My boys are able to look up words and understand the definitions without it being "too easy". The illustrations are great too!!

This dictionary is indispensable for developing young minds who inquire at every turn, "What does ..... mean?" The beautifully illustrated, glossy cover advises that the contents include 32,000 entries and over 3,000 illustrations; this makes it a great vocabulary resource as well as being down right entertaining for kids. The pictures and illustrations are vividly colored, natural, not cartoonish, and very attractive.

The publisher says this dictionary is designed for ages 8 and up, but why wait until then to buy it for your little scholar. There are 911 pages with many aids for learning. The typography is clear, easy to read and printed on very sturdy paper. One of the handiest features is the color coded indexing that helps you find the letter of the alphabet by looking at the open edge of the book. There's a simple guide to pronunciation printed at the bottom of each page, but it's only two pages wide and then reprinted on each page.

One of my favorite features is the encyclopedic topical renderings that are interspersed throughout the dictionary. These give the young reader a look at a word with added details such as the context of the word and other valuable perspective. For example, the entry for "baseball" not only provides a definition of the word as "the ball" and "the game" but also illustrates the equipment used to play the game and shows the positions on the field.

Our family has had this book for more years than I can remember and it has held up to exceptionally hard use which makes it an excellent value, in my opinion. Even when your "kid" progresses so far in the English language that he or she says "it's juvenile," you will still find him or her sneaking a peek at the definitions because if the word appears in this book you can be assured it will be simply understandable.

This is a great dictionary for kids. I received it in first grade, and it was used extensively in the past years. It has colorful photos illustrating various words, and the print is large enough for a young child to read.
The feature I found particularly useful was the color-coded letters of the alphabet at the side of the pages. You can easily find the letter you wish to look up that way.
I highly reccomend this dictionary to any kid attending 1st-4th grade.