MacMillan Dictionary for Children

I have several dictionaries in my classroom but this is the by far the best illustrated dictionary I own. I teach middle school ESOL students and other children's dictionaries don't cover enough words to help them with the work they need to do. This dictionary is more likely to contain words and illustrations they need to know. Highly recommended!

I spent hours pouring over reference books for my 6 year old for her bday and xmas. There is such a vast array of options. Most were too elementary...which was confusing, because either you're too little and you can't read it...or you're a little older and can read and you are really, seriously trying to figure out what another word says. SO, this book did it! It has the perfect blend of content and illustrations, up-to-date topics and easy to understand explanations of words....which is a dictionary is suppose to do, I'd say. Out of the 20 I picked up and put down at the super big-chain book store, this is the only one I would get, so i did!

This dictionary has 35,000 entries which makes it substantial enough for elementary school students without being intimidating. I compared it in the store with the DK Merriam-Webster Children's dictionary. The two dictionaries are similar in size and scope. Looking at the first page of entries, the DK Merriam-Webster included several words not included in this MacMillan (ab-, aback, abaft, abash, abbess, abbot) while the MacMillan included "AB" (the postal abbreviation for Alberta.) This MacMillan used the entry word in a sentence more often than the DK Merriam-Webster. My main reason for choosing it over the DK Merriam-Webster is that it had a nicer, two-column uncluttered layout that is much easier for the younger child to work with than three-column layout of DK Merriam-Webster, which is very "busy" looking.

This is very good dictionary for kids. My son goes to 3rd grade and he writes a reading journal. This dictionary helps him to find the right spelling. He loves to write and use this dictionary.