Roget's Children's Thesaurus (Hardcover)

~ Harper Collins Publishers (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Ideal for building vocabulary and writing skills, this thesaurus is the perfect companion for budding readers and writers. Completely revised with more than 180 main entries and 1,000 synonyms, Roget's Children's Thesaurus features age-appropriate language, easy-to-read type, and color illustrations and photos that underscore the book's invitation to learning.

From the Publisher

The completely revised edition of this classic thesaurus for children is written and designed especially for young readers between the ages of 8 and 12 to help build their vocabulary and writing skills. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0673124363
• ISBN-13: 978-0673124364
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,271,508 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #42 in

  Books > Children's Books > Reference & Nonfiction > Thesauri

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a Useful Reference Tool, September 29, 1999

By A Customer

This Thesaurus, although colorful and easy to read has far too few entries to be a useful reference tool for 3rd, 4th, 5th graders. Literally none of the words on my 4th grade daughter's spelling list (for which she needed to find synonyms) were in the book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for first grade, July 12, 2005

By	I. Teech "Love books" (GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roget's Children's Thesaurus (Hardcover)

This might not be a thesaurus for older primary students; but, it is a wonderful resource for first graders. Very easy to use and great presentation for children who are new to using a thesaurus. I use this thesaurus in my classroom and my students love it!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed. It's a Dumbed Down Reference Book. Publisher Says for Grades 3-5, I Disagree., January 9, 2008

By	christinemm - The Thinking Mother (Connecticut, United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Roget's Children's Thesaurus (Hardcover)

ALTERNATE TITLE NOTE: I see inside the book, the publisher states this book is also published under the title "The Beginning Writer's Thesaurus". After a bit of research I see that book was published for grade 3 only to use in the classroom to not be just a thesaurus but to use as a tool for teaching vocabulary in general. Now that makes better sense to me! (Read on for more information).

How I Came To Buy This Book: Based on the recommendation in the homeschool curriculum, First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind Level 3 (for Grades 3-4) by Jessie Wise. I purchased this book to use with the program, sight unseen, from Amazon.com. The regular Roget's Thesaurus is a classic, so I trusted this name. Until now, I had not been let down by the recommendations of Jessie Wise (co-author of The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home).

Wow I was very surprised when I opened this book. I was very under-whelmed. I wanted a thesaurus that was suitable for grades 3-5. This is what I'd call `dumbed down' if we are going by the publisher's recommendation that this is for grades 3-5.

I felt that a thesaurus was laid out like a dictionary in alphabetical order with all the word entries in the main body of the book. I thought that after each word, it then lists synonyms and antonyms.

This book is not the typical format that I had expected to see. First there are main "entry words" that have one full page dedicated to them. Not every word in the book is an "entry word". An example is one entry word is `idea' and a synonym is `thought' but the words `thought' and all the other synonyms (concept, notion) are not something you could have looked up as a main entry, nor are they cross-referenced!

The font size, white space and illustrations seem right for grades 1 and 2. However the readability of the words is more appropriate for grade 3 so technically it might be too hard for students in grades 1 and 2 (as another Amazon customer stated it was good for).

The book just seemed too simple and skimpy for children in grades 4 and 5 to use as a reference tool for use to improve their writing.

There is quite a lot of white space on each page. Each page has at least one large full color graphic for `interest', it states. I found it visually cluttered and distracting. The illustrations range from photographs to hand-drawn illustrations. Poems, song lyrics or quotes or lists sometimes are also on the pages. Those extra features are overkill and visual clutter for students using the book to try to just find a synonym or an antonym to use in their writing.

Some entries have word pools which are related words that are not technically synonyms, i.e. bright has sparkle and twinkle in its word pool. Some entries have word lists they call "words from words" (which translates to be lists of words created from that root word).

After the one `entry word' is shown on the left corner there usually 4-6 synonyms in large bold font with a definition and an illustrating sentence for each. Oddly, the antonym is harder to see as it is in small, unbolded font. They provide only one antonym for each entry word.

In order to find the full list of words in alphabetical order you'd have to use the index at page 225 to locate the word you are thinking of to find its synonyms.

Here is how they would have to use the book: If a child needs to look up a word they would first scroll through the 200+ pages to see if the word can be found, by reading each entry word on the page and continuing to flip and flip until they got to the right spot where it should be. (There is no list at the beginning to see if your word is an entry word or not.) If it is not found, it means it is not an `entry word'. I'd hope the student would not give up at that point---they should then go to page 225 and read the index to see if the word is in this book and used as a synonym or antonym for an entry word.

Given that the words here are quite simplistic, for children especially in 4th or 5th grade they might have to use a second, more comprehensive thesaurus to find the information they need.

The book also features a couple of articles about creativity and writing and shows examples of the format of writing a personal letter,

Before I confirmed it by reading the publisher's information for the book under the original title, I suspected (and was right) that this book would be more useful if a teacher were using the entries as part of their lesson plans in and of themselves, such as a lesson on what the word `interested' means and how it is used, in vocabulary lessons.

I'll keep this to try to use with my second grader. I now plan to look for a better thesaurus to use with my fifth grader. This time I'll look at the books in person first.

I'm surprised to be disappointed in this product that bears the name "Roget's Thesaurus" in the title; I expected more of a reference tool.