The American Heritage Children's Dictionary (American Heritage Dictionary)

Rating:
Summary: Up-to-date words and good illustrations.
Review: I am very happy with the content of this dictionary. It will be a gift for my granddaughter who is 8= however I almost returned it because it is so heavy (6+ pounds). Once she finds a place for it, she will enjoy it and get good use from it for the next two or three years.

Rating:
Summary: early elementary only
Review: I bought this dictionary at the end of First grade, thinking it would last through Elementary school Now, he's in 3rd grade, and this year, he's been unable to find 3 words. Last year, he couldn't locate two words. It's aggravating because I want him to learn how to look words up, and spell them correctly. But, he can't find them in the dictionary! I do not remember what the words were, but I doublechecked with him and they were typical words in a third grader's vocabulary, but not in the dictionary. I am now seeking a new dictionary.

Rating:
Summary: Not good enough
Review: I bought this dictionary for my daughter when she started first grade - knowing that it would be a while until her reading skills were good enough for her to use it. Beginning in about the 2nd grade, she started to use it regularly - and in 3rd grade (last year) she used it all the time. Terrific first dictionary for a kid, with great pictures in full color, good art and illustrations, nice bold type, etc. What's nice about it is that it's layout is just like a grown-up dictionary - which they will switch to in time. This is a perfect dictionary for a grade schooler to learn to do 'research' with appropriate elementary school/junior high vocabularly. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Not good enough
Review: My daughter is a 4th grade girl. She could not find a word "hypothesis". Also, she had a difficult time to understand the meaning of a new word. It was a kind of redundant explanation. We decided to buy a new dictionary "Macmillan Dictionary for Children", which has a word "hypothesis" and better explanation of the word she could not understand in the American Heritage Children's Dictionary.

Rating:
Summary: Great 1st Dictionary - 1st-4th grades
Review: My review is based on the 2003 version. This version must be vastly improved over earlier reviews, as earlier reviews said it had no pronunciation guide. This version is great! It has blue text for the word. Short, concise definitions and a pronunciation guide at the end.

I feel this is a great "real" 1st dictionary for kids. I picked it for it's readability, suitability/content, and concise definitions. And, as some reviewers said, it may not have "every" word, but I found this version to be the easiest to start with and "entice" them into using the dictionary. I really like the DK/Merrian version, but alas, it's really hard for me and my little guys (1st and 2nd) to decipher through all the blah text, symbols, and more complex definitions. I want them to be excited about reading. My plan is to use this one now until the kids seem to outgrow it, and then I'll upgrade to an "older dictionary". Maybe by then DK/Merriam will have an easier format in a few years. In the interim, I'll use the dictionary.com or merriam-webster online for the missing vocab words. Multiple resources are great.

In closing, I did sit in Barnes and Noble for 20 minutes comparing between the Scholastic, DK/merriam, New World Webster, and American Heritage. I still think for a first children's dictionary that this is a great solution. I would have thought Scholastic would have done a better job. The New World Webster was good with definitions, but the artwork consisted of drawings that were not as "good" and the readability was not quite as good.

Hope this helps all in the market.

Rating:
Summary: Well laid out. Good for the younger students.
Review: There are many things I love about this dictionary. Number one is the way it is put together; easy to read text, plenty of eye-catching pictures and artwork, guidewords conspicuously typeset to make locating entries easier, homographs, inflected forms, and example sentences that show use in context.

Even my SLD students are able to use this book. It has been an excellent source in helping them to learn how to use a dictionary as it is less intimidating that the old black and white texts.