Merriam-Webster's Elementary Dictionary by Merriam-Webster Inc: Book Cover

    Merriam-Webster's Elementary Dictionary by Merriam-Webster Inc

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    (Hardcover)

    • Pub. Date: January 2009
    • 842pp
    • Sales Rank: 22,457

    Reader Rating: (4 ratings)

    Detailed Rating: "Educational" See All

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      • Overview
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      Product Details

      • Pub. Date: January 2009
      • Publisher: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated
      • Format: Hardcover, 842pp
      • Sales Rank: 22,457

      School Library Journal

      Gr 3-6

      Bridging the publisher's Primary Dictionary and its Intermediate or School offerings, this update contains more than 36,000 entries and 800 color illustrations, photographs, and diagrams, many of them new. Most entries include sample sentences; 1300 are quotations from popular children's books (listed in an appendix). The work of classic authors such as Louisa May Alcott and E. B. White, along with contemporary writers such as Judy Blume and Jack Gantos, is excerpted to "...help build language skills and encourage a love of reading." Many of the quotes are uninspiring and not particularly representative of the books: for example, a line from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Scholastic, 1999) reads: "The sides of the car were scratched and smeared with mud." On each page, guide words in color appear at the top, and a vertical alphabet list (with the current letter framed) scrolls down the margin. Most pages have one or two images or highlighted paragraphs discussing word histories, Greek and Latin roots, or synonyms. "Headscratchers" contain inane curiosities such as, "Thousand is the first number whose name is spelled using an a. That means that you can count from zero to nine-hundred, ninety-nine without ever using an a!" Front matter includes a labeled page key and an explanatory "Using Your Dictionary" note. Signs and symbols (including mathematical and business-writing conventions), a geographical name dictionary, and full-color political world and U.S. maps are appended.-Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools

      Customer Reviews

      Great first "real" dictionaryby tigalig

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      December 05, 2009: My third grader had used dictionaries, but it was time for him to be able to learn to use one from front to back completely on his own. This dictionary meets our needs. He looks up words for spelling purposes, definitions for vocabulary quizzes, and learns challenge words on a weekly basis - all on his own and all with the help of this book. I highly recommend it for keeping a child's interest (nice colorful pictures) and thorough coverage of words being learned by elementary-aged children.

      Solid Dictionary for Elementary School Kidsby Silver_Fox

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      October 26, 2009: Merriam-Webster's Elementary Dictionary is a solid dictionary for children in grades 3-6. (It should not be confused with the Webster New World Children's Dictionary.) Before purchasing, I carefully examined the Webster's New World (solid, good definitions, easy layout); the Scholastic Children's Dictionary (colorful, but few words and poor academically); the American Heritage Children's Dictionary and MacMillan (both decent, but not great overall, though). Some have nicer graphics than the Merriam-Webster, while others are lighter or smaller. But overall, the Merriam-Webster edges them all out.

      Ultimately, it's the quality of Merriam-Webster's definitions that excel. The dictionary is easy for younger kids to use in terms of layout (though Scholastic will beat it out here, though what you get from Scholastic isn't great in terms of definitions or quantity). Also, it's pronunciation guide is old-school, which is a negative for some, but a positive for me. Much of the newer pronunciation guides reflect lazy diction, dropping consonants or slurring syllables together. Not so with Merriam-Webster.


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