Dictionaries

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**The Bibliophile’s Dictionary: 2054 Masterful Words and Phrases** by Miles Westley. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest Books, 2005. This is a small book that, as the author states, “is part dictionary, part thesaurus, and part encyclopedia.” These are words that the author has come across in his reading and each word is followed by a citation of where the word was found. There is a pronunciation key, a definition and an example. There are fifteen chapters including personality traits, emotions and architecture. This reference is for adults and possible high school students. The author wants this book to be inspiration, and to add “additional colors to the author’s palette.” **control + alt + delete: a dictionary of cyber slang** by Jonathan Keats. Guilford: Lyons Press, 2007. What a cool little book. This is for adults, and is very biased. The author is an “amateur observer of language, living in San Francisco at the beginning of the twenty-first century.” He writes “Jargon Watch”. This book has cyber slang, everything for the known (clipart) to the unknown – by me at least – such as silvercast (television programming broadcast exclusively over the internet to reach a demographic so minuscule that the total number of potential viewers is insufficient even for cable.) **The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Math** by Toni Large. Tulsa: Edu Pub, 2003. This reference is for secondary school students. There are over 500 math terms and includes numbers; shapes space and measures; algebra; and handling data. There are recommended websites if you have access to a computer. __A First Dictionary of Cultural Literacy __E. D. Hirsch, Jr. Houghton Mifflin,1996 This book attempts to compile knowledge that children should acquire by the end of sixth grade. The terms selected come from suggestions of teachers and administrators belonging to the Cultural Literacy Network. In the intro the author sets forth that 80% of knowledge shared by literate American does not change from year to year and 20% needs to be updated. The dictionary is divided into 21 sections by subject matter: fine arts, math, geography etc. It includes an intro to students on how to use the dictionary suggesting reading it cover to cover is not the best way to gain knowledge and advocates asking a librarian to help find further resources. Entries are alphabetical within subject area. Easy-to-read font and page layout. Good use of illustrations using both drawings and photographs.  __The Dictionary of Characters in Children’s Literature __Beverly Ann Chin, Editor Franklin Watts 2002 Entries are alphabetical by book title. Each entry includes standard info such as author, date of publication, type of literature, awards won, plot, them setting. Character names are listed in dark type In the beginning of the dictionary there is an alphabetical list of major characters covered with the book title after the name. Beautiful color illustrations of book covers and scenes from the book. __Thorndike-Barnhart Junior Dictionary __ Harper Collins, 1997 This dictionary is also published under the title Scott Foresman Intermediate Dictionary. Great informational pages at the beginning of the dictionary outlining how to use the dictionary and the parts of a dictionary entry. This book is a great resource to familiarize students with how to use a picture dictionary. Type is on the small side but use of bold print for entries makes it easy to look up entries. Informative tables and charts appear throughout the dictionary. Colored highlighted sections throughout with Word Story (origin of word) Synonym Study and Word Source. Where appropriate, entries are labeled as //informal// (used in everyday talk) and //casual// (used in casual writing but not in formal writing) and //slang// (used among friends). An excellent resource to transition between “first dictionaries” and adult dictionaries.

//Safire’s Political Dictionary,// Updated and Expanded Edition, by William Safire, Oxford University Press, 2008 This is the latest revision of Safire’s dictionary, which was first published in 1968. Standard terms like “amendment” or “president” aren’t included here. Instead Safire offers definitions of words and phrases throughout the span of American political history, from “Abolitionist” to “fireside chat,” from “bully pulpit” to “compassionate conservative.” Anecdotal word histories invite browsing. The front matter includes a number of helpful features such as a list of contributions by administration, from FDR on. The dictionary is indexed by subject and terms are cross-referenced. This is a very entertaining reference book that would make a great addition to a high school library collection.

//Essential Dictionary of American Idioms,// Second Edition, by Richard A. Spears, NTC Publishing Group, 1999 This dictionary of idioms contains 1,700 entries. Each entry is illustrated by at least two example sentences, making it a helpful resource for English language students. Typeface and format make this book easy to read. "Phrase finder” index lets you look up any word within the idiomatic phrase and locate it in the dictionary on the basis of that one word, which seems like a very helpful feature for ESL students.

//The American Heritage Student Science Dictionary,// by The Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002 Intended for students in grades 7 and up. More than 4500 entries, illustrated with 425 four-color photographs and drawings. Includes a 2-page guide to using the dictionary. Feature boxes provide extended biographical profiles of famous names in science (e.g. Charles Darwin, Marie Curie) and a closer look at certain concepts (e.g. acid rain, fluorescence). Other features include charts and tables such as the Periodic Table, chart of Geologic Time, and others. I like this dictionary because I believe it serves a need for accessible science references at this level.

__A Visual Dictionary of the Old West__, published by Crabtree Publishing Company in 2008, written by Bobbie Kalman is the second dictionary I reviewed. This dictionary is not the type of dictionary that I am used to using. It was more of a story with words in bold type and then either defined by words or explained in pictures. It is a very good resource for young children. It includes an index and a glossary of the words not defined on the pages where they appear.

__Abracadabra to Zombie__, published by Dutton Children’s Books in 2003, written by Don and Pam Wulffson. This is dictionary that has more than 300 funny and informative stories about the origin some of the most unusual words. This book is for students in grades 4 – 7 and is very appropriately written for this age group. The illustrations are humorous and would be intriguing to students. There is a wide variety of words included in this dictionary ranging from heebie-jeebies to perfume. They all have an interesting story depicting their origin. Along with the stories are anecdotes and bits of trivia which make this book even more interesting.

__ Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms __, published by Scholastic, Inc. in 1996 and written by Marvin Terban. This dictionary contains over 600 phrases, expressions and sayings that are commonly heard in the English language. It explains the meaning and gives the origin behind the idioms. Idioms can be very confusing for kids to understand, so this dictionary would be great to have in their school library for them to peruse on their own, or to use as a resource for an assignment about idioms.

1.__**Oxford First Rhyming Dictionary**__. John Foster. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Contains really colorful illustrations and has easy-to-use rhyming words for elementary students. So very cute. 2.__**Dictionary of Shakespeare**__. Louise McConnell. Teddington, Middlesex: Peter Collin, 2000. A dictionary that defines play titles, poem titles, characters, and historical items and references in Shakespearian works. Great for high school students. 3.__**The Facts on File Dictionary of Mathematics**__. Edited by John Daintith and John Clark. New York: Facts on File, 1999. Even though this had mixed reviews, I included it. The concept is wonderful and it seemed very useful in my opinion. Geared toward upper middle school and high school students. -Lynn

Merriam-Webster Inc 2005**
 * Webster’s New Explorer Dictionary and Thesaurus New Edition

I really liked this dictionary. It is user friendly (non-intimidating) and it has great additional resources included in the dictionary such as biographical names, geographical names, handbook of style, basic English grammar, atlas and thesaurus. A great mixture of content and it has a recent copyright date.

Houghton Mifflin 1987**
 * American Heritage Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

This was also a great dictionary as it includes colorful illustrations as well as a pronunciation key on each page. It is a hefty 2,000 pages but in addition to the standard word definitions, it has entries from the American Revolution to the Yellow River. It is an old edition and I am sure it has since been updated.

Merriam-Webster 2001**
 * Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of American Writers

This is book is a great introductory resource in that it lists alphabetically American Writers. What is its best feature, however, is the inclusion of an Authors section, Literary Works section, and Groups, Movements and Periodicals section in the book. It defines the Algonquin Round Table, the Beat Movement and the Atlantic Monthly for example. A great resource for high schoolers. ~Joanne T

__What in the World is a Homophone?__ by Leslie Presson. New York: Barron’s, 1996. A simple, colorfully illustrated dictionary for elementary aged students, What in the World is a Homophone? defines 387 sets of homophones, chosen for frequency of use. The book is clearly arranged and styled for independent use by younger readers. It also includes a section for contractions that are homophones and for “near misses,” words that may be differentiated by regional accents. This book would make a useful addition to an elementary school library. __The Usborne Illustrated Dictionary of Science__ by Corinne Stockley, et al. London: Usborne Publishing, Ltd., 2007. This is one of the best illustrated science dictionaries I found in terms of style and arrangement. The dictionary is organized into three main categories of physics, chemistry, and biology. Each of the three categories has its own table of contents with color coded pages to find subcategories of information. There is also an alphabetical index to locate terms quickly. The color illustrations are clear and engaging, but the content is sophisticated enough to make the book useful to at least middle school and probably high school as well. Like many Usborne publications, the book includes a website with relevant information and additional links. __Thorndike-Barnhart Junior Dictionary__ by E.L. Thorndike and Clarence L. Barnhart. Illinois: Scott, Foresman, and Company, 1997. This is a classic abridged dictionary that would be useful in an elementary school classroom or library. It is arranged clearly and includes basic information on how to use the dictionary, as well as special information pages. The guide words are placed in colorful boxes at the top of the page, and each page has a small pronunciation key at the bottom so the reader doesn’t have to flip back to the first pages if they are unsure of how to say a word. One or two terms on each page are illustrated with a photograph, diagram, or picture. The __Thorndike-Barnhart Junior Dictionary__ also includes highlighted “Usage Note” “Word Story” and “Synonym Study” sections throughout the book that contribute to the reader’s understanding of language. Although I was only able to get an older edition of this dictionary, I think it would be a useful addition to an elementary or middle school library or classroom for many years.

**1. Title: The Red-Hot Book of Spanish Slang and Idioms: 5000 Expressions to Spice up your Spanish** Authors: Mary McVey Gill and Brenda Wegman Publisher: McGraw Hill New York Year: 2007 Form: Foreign Language/Slang-Dialect Contains a Spanish-English and an English-Spanish dictionary. This is a great reference for looking up idiomatical language. It comes in handy for non- Spanish speaking teachers to decipher what students are saying when they think you don’t understand.
 * 2. Title: French in Your Face** Author: Luc Nisset Publisher: McGraw Hill New York Year: 2006 Form: Descriptive/Visual Phrases, synonyms, antonyms and facial expressions. Great if you were taking a trip to France. Since Essex Aggie does not offer language and we have had several students interested in self teaching a language. I really like the use of facial expressions in this book.
 * 3. Title: Words to Rhyme With** Author: Willard R. Espy Publisher: Facts on File New York Date: 2001 Type: Descriptive Definitely a writers dictionary. I guess it would be considered both a Subject and a Slang/dialect Dictionary. I will say that it is not very user friendly, although I plan to use it. It has a great section on the forms of lyric verse. It covers single, double and triple rhymes.

//1. “Merriam-Webster Children’s Dictionary” edited by Rosie O’Neill. (Dorling Kindersley: 2005).

This 912-page illustrated dictionary is packed with great information, including world maps on the inside covers, an easy-to-use how-to guide, and a reference section with facts and maps of the continents, pictures of flags from countries around the world, U.S. presidents and vice presidents, pronunciation guides, signs and symbols, abbreviations, state flags, and much more. There are 846 pages of definitions included, with words such ass e-mail, iguana, footsore, and indifference. The pages have wonderful photographs to illustrate various definitions, such as Indian clubs and incubators. A picture index is included in the back, with page numbers in bold referring to entries with additional information. There is a multicolored alphabet running down the outer edges of every single page, with the featured letter highlighted for easy reference when flipping through. This dictionary is extremely user-friendly for elementary students. -TG

2. “The American Heritage Student Science Dictionary” edited by Steven Kleinedler. (Houghton Mifflin 2002).

This student science dictionary is much more user-friendly for students. There are more than 4,500 entry words written in a clear and straightforward style that facilitates understanding of complex information for students. Over 400 full-color photographs and drawings are included and captioned. Various fields of science are included again: chemistry, physics, biology, geology, astronomy, and ecology. There are did you know boxes included throughout the entries that include notes on important scientific concepts, noteworthy scientists, and the usage and history of scientific terminology, which are each labeled and are presented in a different color box. The Periodic Table of Elements, a Chart of Geologic Time, and a Timeline of Advances in Computing are also included. Some of the science terms included are erosion, esker, either, hepatic, and lice. -TG

3. “The Firefly Five Language Visual Dictionary” by Jean-Claude Corbeil. (Firefly Books: 2004).

This is a very interesting visual dictionary that includes 6,000 color illustrations to show what other dictionaries describe in words. There are numerous intricate illustration topics, from the parts of a honeybee to maritime signals. The dictionary is divided into chapters, outlining subjects from astronomy to sports. More complex subjects are divided into themes including insects and arachnids, mollusks, and crustaceans. The illustrations show an object or phenomenon, and the most significant details from which they are constructed. The best part is each illustration is labeled in five different languages: English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian. With the book in five different languages, it was slightly harder to navigate, but the concept and illustrations were so neat! -TG

Merriam-Webster’s Intermediate Dictionary Merriam-Webster’s Intermediate Thesaurus Merriam-Webster, Inc. c2004 // These are the staples of my dictionary collection. They are intended for use by students in grades 6-8, but I find they meet the needs of the majority of my 5/6 grade students as well as many of the 4th graders. The dictionary entries include pronunciation, part-of-speech and a clear definition. Also useful to the student are lists of abbreviations for chemical elements, and lists of biographical and geographical names. Both the dictionary and the thesaurus have an extensive guide to using the resource. The thesaurus includes information about how to use the dictionary in conjunction with the thesaurus to find the just right word. It also clearly describes the difference between synonyms and related words and antonyms and near antonyms, which are included in many of the entries. We gave these to our daughter in 5th grade and she has made good use of them ever since. I recommend them to parents who inquire about appropriate reference resources

//Right, Wrong, and Risky: a Dictionary of Today’s American English Usage Mark Davidson. W.W. Norton, c2006. // I couldn’t decide whether this very interesting dictionary was descriptive or prescriptive. Organized in alphabetical order, beginning with the entry a/an, the work covers over 2500 different words and phrases that are commonly misused in the English language. Each entry describes both right and wrong usage and addresses issues like when to use “like” or “such as” knowledge that Miss North Carolina certainly could have (or is it of) used. The book is current, entertaining and useful because it covers all those sticky word use situations that we all struggle with from time to time. The audience for this book is definitely high school or adult, but I think most teachers would love finding this in a professional collection.

//Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms Marvin Terban Scholastic, 1998. // There were several idiom dictionaries (American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, A Dictionary of American Idioms), in the collections I explored but most, though comprehensive and interesting, were aimed primarily at high school students and adults. The problem with these was that some of the phrases and examples were not appropriate for younger students, for example, “go to bed with”. The Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms, though less comprehensive, was certainly more kid friendly and appropriate. Each entry includes the idiom, the meaning of the idiom, an example of usage and the origin of the idiom. Also included are illustrations and an introduction explaining what idioms are and how to use the book as well as an alphabetical and a keyword index. Overall this is an engaging, appealing and appropriate resource for elementary students and it is also a lot of fun to read.

//Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms// By Marvin Terban, Scholastic, New York, 2006 Rare, useful, colorful, easy-to-digest, clearly organized, fun This reference includes more than 700 of the most commonly confusing sayings and expressions. In addition, it provides readers with a full introduction discussing what idioms are, where the idioms come from, what a cliché is, and what exactly is in this book. The reference was written to help students understand more about this, sometimes difficult to understand, layer of the English language. The dictionary entries are organized alphabetically by the first letter of the phrase. There is also a full index of all keywords. Idiom definitions also link to other idioms that may have a similar meaning.

//The American Heritage Student Dictionary// Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2007. Edition Updated. Clearly organized, quality information, useful, colorful, accurate This book, written for students in grades 6-9, includes: an introduction; guide on how to use the dictionary; capitalization reference; punctuation and style guide; pronunciation tool; and more than 65,000 dictionary entries with usage and synonym notes (with more than 2,000 photographs, drawings and diagrams). The reference section of the book includes five charts and tables: periodic table of the elements; geologic time; measurement; the solar system; and, taxonomy. The book also includes a full list of photo credits.

//The American Heritage Picture Dictionary// By the editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2007. Edition Updated. Educational, useful, good first dictionary, aids teachers in introducing dictionaries; colorful, good word selection and reference guide for early learnersThis book is written to teach preschoolers and beginning readers alphabetical order and to introduces them to dictionaries. The reference includes 900 age-appropriate entry words and illustrations. The book begins with a preface note to teachers and parents and states that the dictionary is “designed to provide the help and encouragement young children need now, in the preschool and early primary years, as well as to provide the readiness that will be needed in the future for more advanced levels of dictionary use.” The preface includes a brief guide on how to help children get started and suggests that parents and teachers “provide children with an overview of the book, so that they an get an idea of what's in it … the role of the teacher or parent should be that of initiator and interested associate. Help your children have fun with language, and success will surely follow.” The book includes a visual “how to” page for the reader, and then jumps right into “Aa.” Each entry includes a word, a brief sentence, and a picture of the action or word depicted in the sentence. The book definitely needs to be introduced by a parent or teacher, no matter how old the young reader is, 4, 5, 6 or 7 years old. The back of the book includes a separate reference section of words in themes depicted by full page illustrations. For example, a picture of a boy at the doctor's office is illustrated with all the parts of the body named.

__Barron's first thesaurus__ compiled by Andrew Delahunty; illustrated by Steve Cox Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 2005 I have selected this resource as one of the best reviewed as the design and illustrations make it is very easy for students in grades 1-5 to use. The book introduces students to the thesaurus, how to use it for building vocabulary and adding variety to their writing, and explains how it is different from the dictionary. -Deb Morley

__Beginner's Spanish dictionary__ Helen Davies; illustrated by John Shackell; designed by Brian Robertson; edited by Nicole Irving

EDC Publishing, 1989 I like this foreign language dictionary because of the thematic grouping of commonly used words and phrases which makes it easy to use, because there are many illustrations and pictures that help communicate word meaning, and because it has both a simple guide to Spanish grammar, and an English-Spanish vocabulary list for easy reference located in the back of the book. -Deb Morley

__The Children’s Dictionary of Mythology__ David Adams Leeming, general editor ; Marilee Foglesong, advisor Franklin Watts, 1999 I have selected this as one of the best because it provides a good general introduction to mythology for children. It includes terms, names and places in mythology of various cultures around the world. Some entries retell stories handed down for generations. -Deb Morley

These dictionaries are for the high school collection. Room, Adrian, The Cassell Dictionary of Word Histories. Cassel Publishing, 2002 With over 20,000 words and word elements, ranging from the everyday to street slang, to scientific terminology, this dictionary paints a picture of the diverse sources that gave rise to the English language we now speak. For each entry, there's a basic definition, grammatical status, and the term's history; when it first appeared in English, its origins, and the history of its development. Trace such words as cathedral and syllable back to the original Latin and Greek; see direct borrowings from foreign languages such as zeitgeist and incubus; explore the scientific birth of coinages like agoraphobia and titanium; and enjoy some nonsense inventions, including frabjous and runcible. It is becasue of it's diversity, I think the student's find it so interesting and fun to read. It is a great source to use when talking about dictionaries because most student's think of Webster's when they think of dictionaries. It is really interesting to find out how a word came to be, and I think the student's find it interesting as well (as do the teachers!) LE Ammer, Christine. The Facts on File Dictionary of Clichés. New York: Facts on File, 2001. The author of this dictionary, Christine Ammer, describes this dictionary as a collection of "the particularity of an era's attitude." An example is drawn from the testimony of a young soldier pressed by her comrades to participate in harassment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Her response, when agreeing to join in, was "OK. Whatever.” Her own definition--"in any case; anything goes; as you wish"--is certainly adequate, though it hardly accounts for the word being sometimes "irksome, and even incendiary, as well as nonchalant." In this connection, she uses the actor Russell Crowe's assault on a hotel clerk who uttered the word with a greater measure of disrespect than Crowe thought appropriate. (She uses modern day examples that students can easily relate to.) The thoroughness of this entry is typical of the whole, and the same thoroughness may be found in the indexing, which permits both phrasal and keyword searches. The students at my school write a paper in English using a variety of dictionaries, and this seems to be a favorite. It is fun to read, and they are struck by how many cliches they actually use! LE Manser, Martin H. and David Pickering. The Facts On File Dictionary of Classical and Biblical Allusions. New York: Facts on File, 2003. This dictionary focuses on literary references from Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian, and Celtic mythology, as well as the Bible. The book contains approximately 2000 alphabetically arranged entries with pronunciations, definitions, examples, origins, and quotes. All allusions predate 1,000 C.E. Each entry begins with the term (followed in some cases by a pronunciation guide), focuses on an explanation, and ends with an example. About half of the examples are from literature; others are sample constructions to illustrate common usage. Biblical allusions seem to outnumber other types, and all biblical quotations are taken from the King James Version. I added this as I have been thinking about "know your users." This dictionary is used in both English and religion(though we do not follow the King James version of the Bible, so it serves as a nice contrast.) It also has nice illustrations. LE

The Lincoln writing dictionary for children, Christopher Morris (ed.). San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988. Aims to bring back the literary experience of reading the dictionary versus using the dictionary by including quotes from well-known authors, essays on etymology, and usage instruction. Thirty-five thousand entries are based on a computer program run on popular works of children’s fiction. RA

The American Heritage dictionary of the English language Fourth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. (There was copy of this volume in both the children’s and the adult reference sections.) Thirty eight pages of introductory material includes essays about the English language, contributors and consultants names and titles. There are 14 tables and charts, ranging from the Periodic Table to Proofreader’s Marks. Appendixes address Indo-European, and Semitic roots. There are 1800 notes. Very appealing color illustrations. RA

The American Heritage dictionary of idioms, Christine Ammer. Boston: American Heritage, 1997. Idiom is defined as “a set phrase of two or more words that means something different from the literal meaning of the individual words.” No extra material beyond a short and concise user’s guide. Lots of cross-reference make sure that, for example, the user can look up “daylight” and be directed to “living daylights,” etc. Origins of the idioms are explained, but often are unknown. RA