First Children's Dictionary ed. by Marie Greenwood

Australian Edition. Dorling Kindersley, 2018. ISBN 9780143794981
(Age: 7+) Highly recommended. Subjects: English dictionary. Dorling Kindersley's First Children's Dictionary is an excellent resource and reference guide for children, students and families to use. Introductory sections assist in understanding alphabetical order, sentence construction and how to use the dictionary. Labels, diagrams, photos, bold text and whole pages focussed on one topic make this visually appealing. We view a city scene with a cyclist, street musician and traffic surrounded by descriptive words filling the sky in a range of fun fonts, just right to investigate. Fireworks blast and flash across the Entertainment page and industrial robots, surveillance drones and high-tech humanoid robots are surrounded by descriptive nouns, verbs and phrases in the 'R' section.
The editors have included a broad range of words including both familiar language and new topics to extend the reader's vocabulary. This dictionary is clearly set out for younger children with a simple definition and explanation included in a sentence. Colourful images, half page photo spreads and three columns per page, bold guide words and alphabetical order on the page edges make this an interesting reference tool. Spelling tips, Writing and punctuation tools, Maths facts and figures, Animal Families and a world map are included as additional points of interest.
With more than 400 entries and 800 illustrations this First Children's Dictionary is a constructive guide for families and students in the early years. A beneficial introduction to grammar, spelling tips and a useful resource for creative writing.
Rhyllis Bignell