Merriam-Webster Children's Dictionary: Features 3,000 Photographs and Illustrations

I purchased this item for my students (as a resource) and won't even have the opportunity to have them use it. The dictionary is poorly made, and the binding was completely compromised with the pages barely holding to the spine (see pictures). I live abroad so I cannot exchange it, and I am stuck with this poorly made book. I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to reach someone for help, so I am leaving this feedback to assist anyone else considering the purchase and concerned about the quality of the book.

I bought 10 of these dictionaries for my classroom, which is a 3rd and 4th grade combo class. It's been 2 weeks and 3 of the bindings are completely destroyed. They are huge and hard for them to carry. I wouldn't recommend for children.

Bought this for use by older children on a regular basis. We all like the up-to-date pictures and definitions, and it has met our older elementary vocabulary needs so far. The paper is medium-low quality but the ink is bright and the print easy to read for young learners. BIG PROBLEM: the binding is so low quality that within 3 days of light use (indoor, on desk, by civilized humans with book respect), the body of the book started peeling out of the covers, and the base and top of the spine parts of the cover are coming apart. The book was also poorly packed for shipping so it arrived with bumped corners. Come on DK: You have a good reputation for high quality books--please bind them so they'll last longer than a week. I'd pay half again as much for a better-bound copy (we paid $21). If you plan to buy this book for a shelf deco, look no further; if you need a reference dictionary, for children, look elsewhere or buy a roll of heavy duty repair tape to keep your copy together.

The binding started coming apart with the first use. I read the reviews prior to orderimg this. Many clearly warned of this happening. I wrongly assumed that these buyers had simply mishandled the book. It is rather thick and heavy and would surely fall apart if not used on a flat surface. However, we had it opened on a flat surface and it came apart from proper and basic use... Aside from THAT...the actual content is great and the images used are very engaging for a student.

Update: We ordered the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Could not be happier. Will be soon ordering the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus in the next few weeks. My ten year old son loves the American Heritage Dictionary. He finds it much easier to navigate, understand and does not get discouraged because the words he needs to find are found in it. Unlike the Merriam Webster Children's Dictionary where time after time, the words were not in the book. Typical words found in 3-5th grade. The American Heritage Dictionary will last his lifetime. Excellent investment. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Many times my son exhaustively searches for a word, its not there. For example: analogy, not contained in this dictionary. Now is this a common word for a fourth/fifth grade student? I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Many terms in elementary math, geography, grammar, science is not contained in this dictionary. At least 40% of the time, the word is not contained in this dictionary. Its difficult to motivate, and this dictionary actually discourages. We went with American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition and Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus. My son has grown and is inspired using a real dictionary.

I am a Chinese, I brought this book to China as new year gifts for my nephew (6 years old). He said this the best gift he has ever received! He may not understand most words, but I am pretty sure that the beautiful and interesting figures in this dictionary will help to develop his interest of learning English. Hope one day when he speaks fluent English with appropriate words, he can remember it is his uncle me who give him this dictionary.

I love this dictionary. I bought it for my 2nd grader old to combine with his Sylvan Workbook homework routine. This has been a wonderful addition and adds variety to his daily homework schedule. I love that there are color and graphics on every page and clear definitions that aren't too watered down so that even an early grade school student can understand. Don't misunderstand though, this packs plenty of punch for even a middle school learner. Some of the other things some of the other reviewers mentioned are so minuscule, you most likely wouldn't even notice. Buy it!

My daughter is in Second grade now and the teacher requested that she have a dictionary at home. I decided to go with this one and I am really glad that I did. There are pictures inside as well. My sister mentioned that now a days you can just use the internet but I feel that you lose something by just typing in the word and getting the definition.. This will help them with learning to file and look information up. I feel this will be a good dictionary for her for the next few years. She actually just sits there and starts reading from it like a story book!

I bought two of these to take as donations to school libraries on a remote island in the Pacific. For that purpose, the content is great. The definitions are understandable and the pictures are great. But, the construction of the book is total garbage. Before I even arrived at the island, the spines of the books had separated from the pages. I don't think these dictionaries will last more than a month, which is a disgrace as I paid $50 in tiny airplane excess baggage fees (they're 7.5 lbs each!) to get them there. I understand the race to the bottom with pricing, but I suppose my review will confirm that you have, in fact, hit the bottom. Please consider making these dictionaries FOR children in the future. As it is, they can only withstand a very carefully curated life on a desk. (I have a photo of the broken spine but don't see any way to attach it.)

I've never talked to my kids using words other than what I'd use speaking to an adult. Whenever they'd ask what a word meant, I always told them to look it up. When they told me it'd be easier for me to tell them, my response was if they looked it up themselves they'd remember it. Their friends learned the same way in my house. Now that the grands are at the beginning stage of..."Look it up!", I thought I'd get a dictionary for them.

I purchased this item for my students (as a resource) and won't even have the opportunity to have them use it. The dictionary is poorly made, and the binding was completely compromised with the pages barely holding to the spine (see pictures). I live abroad so I cannot exchange it, and I am stuck with this poorly made book. I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to reach someone for help, so I am leaving this feedback to assist anyone else considering the purchase and concerned about the quality of the book.

I bought 10 of these dictionaries for my classroom, which is a 3rd and 4th grade combo class. It's been 2 weeks and 3 of the bindings are completely destroyed. They are huge and hard for them to carry. I wouldn't recommend for children.

Bought this for use by older children on a regular basis. We all like the up-to-date pictures and definitions, and it has met our older elementary vocabulary needs so far. The paper is medium-low quality but the ink is bright and the print easy to read for young learners. BIG PROBLEM: the binding is so low quality that within 3 days of light use (indoor, on desk, by civilized humans with book respect), the body of the book started peeling out of the covers, and the base and top of the spine parts of the cover are coming apart. The book was also poorly packed for shipping so it arrived with bumped corners. Come on DK: You have a good reputation for high quality books--please bind them so they'll last longer than a week. I'd pay half again as much for a better-bound copy (we paid $21). If you plan to buy this book for a shelf deco, look no further; if you need a reference dictionary, for children, look elsewhere or buy a roll of heavy duty repair tape to keep your copy together.

The binding started coming apart with the first use. I read the reviews prior to orderimg this. Many clearly warned of this happening. I wrongly assumed that these buyers had simply mishandled the book. It is rather thick and heavy and would surely fall apart if not used on a flat surface. However, we had it opened on a flat surface and it came apart from proper and basic use... Aside from THAT...the actual content is great and the images used are very engaging for a student.

Update: We ordered the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Could not be happier. Will be soon ordering the Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus in the next few weeks. My ten year old son loves the American Heritage Dictionary. He finds it much easier to navigate, understand and does not get discouraged because the words he needs to find are found in it. Unlike the Merriam Webster Children's Dictionary where time after time, the words were not in the book. Typical words found in 3-5th grade. The American Heritage Dictionary will last his lifetime. Excellent investment. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Many times my son exhaustively searches for a word, its not there. For example: analogy, not contained in this dictionary. Now is this a common word for a fourth/fifth grade student? I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Many terms in elementary math, geography, grammar, science is not contained in this dictionary. At least 40% of the time, the word is not contained in this dictionary. Its difficult to motivate, and this dictionary actually discourages. We went with American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition and Oxford American Writer's Thesaurus. My son has grown and is inspired using a real dictionary.

I am a Chinese, I brought this book to China as new year gifts for my nephew (6 years old). He said this the best gift he has ever received! He may not understand most words, but I am pretty sure that the beautiful and interesting figures in this dictionary will help to develop his interest of learning English. Hope one day when he speaks fluent English with appropriate words, he can remember it is his uncle me who give him this dictionary.

I love this dictionary. I bought it for my 2nd grader old to combine with his Sylvan Workbook homework routine. This has been a wonderful addition and adds variety to his daily homework schedule. I love that there are color and graphics on every page and clear definitions that aren't too watered down so that even an early grade school student can understand. Don't misunderstand though, this packs plenty of punch for even a middle school learner. Some of the other things some of the other reviewers mentioned are so minuscule, you most likely wouldn't even notice. Buy it!

My daughter is in Second grade now and the teacher requested that she have a dictionary at home. I decided to go with this one and I am really glad that I did. There are pictures inside as well. My sister mentioned that now a days you can just use the internet but I feel that you lose something by just typing in the word and getting the definition.. This will help them with learning to file and look information up. I feel this will be a good dictionary for her for the next few years. She actually just sits there and starts reading from it like a story book!

I bought two of these to take as donations to school libraries on a remote island in the Pacific. For that purpose, the content is great. The definitions are understandable and the pictures are great. But, the construction of the book is total garbage. Before I even arrived at the island, the spines of the books had separated from the pages. I don't think these dictionaries will last more than a month, which is a disgrace as I paid $50 in tiny airplane excess baggage fees (they're 7.5 lbs each!) to get them there. I understand the race to the bottom with pricing, but I suppose my review will confirm that you have, in fact, hit the bottom. Please consider making these dictionaries FOR children in the future. As it is, they can only withstand a very carefully curated life on a desk. (I have a photo of the broken spine but don't see any way to attach it.)

I've never talked to my kids using words other than what I'd use speaking to an adult. Whenever they'd ask what a word meant, I always told them to look it up. When they told me it'd be easier for me to tell them, my response was if they looked it up themselves they'd remember it. Their friends learned the same way in my house. Now that the grands are at the beginning stage of..."Look it up!", I thought I'd get a dictionary for them.

Perfect reference for kids to have at home. I'd say grades 1 to 8 would find it useful, and maybe older kids depending on their vocabulary skills. It's a great tool for teaching kids to look things up alphabetically in a reference book instead of using Google or asking mom about everything. The illustrations help hold their attention, too.

Just a great as I remember in my childhood! So sick of using technology all the time and I wanted my kids to get in the habit of finding solutions to spelling or definitions for schoolwork rather than just asking for answers.. well the iPad has the app but it just became a distraction so I purchased this Instead! Super sturdy, heavy just like a dictionary should be, and easy to use with kid appropriate literacy! Very happy with purchase!

I have purchased two of these dictionaries for my grandchildren. We play the "dictionary" game, where I call out a simple word and they find it. The print is easy for children to read, while the pictures are colorful and easy to identify.

I bought this for my seven year old CHILD who reads a lot, and needs to look up a lot of words. This dictionary has lots of colorful pages and pictures, but the definitions are very technical and more oriented for older children or adults. He understood about 20% of the definitions, which makes the book useless as a child's dictionary. I took my son to the public library and saw a children's dictionary by another company and the definitions were much simpler, as though designed for children.

Detailed and beautifully illustrated. Font size is correct for young children. Telling my children to check the dictionary instead of tapping on google is so much more satisfying.

I love this dictionary for my son. he loves science and loves just sitting down and looking through it at all the pictures and descriptions. I also love saying 'go look in your dictionary' whenever he asks me how to spell something. It really is a very nicely put together dictionary.

As a nature base education field trip leader I needed an easy to understand definition of possible new words for youngsters hiking the ecosystems. A college edition dictionary I have did not do the job. The Children’s Dictionary did. Makes my discussion a lot easier for the youngsters to enjoy their day away from the classroom.

This dictionary is pretty comprehensive, and we love all the excellent pictures. However, I'm newly concerned about its accuracy. We were looking up Pluto today. There are actually two errors under Pluto. First, it says "[Pluto] is sometimes considered one of the planets." While true, it would have been better to just call it a dwarf planet. The second error is literally huge: " [Pluto] orbits the sun at an average distance of 3.7 million miles (5.9 million kilometers)." In fact, Pluto's average distance is 3.7 BILLION miles (5.9 billion kilometers) from the sun. Mercury is 35 million miles from the sun. In addition, the other [actual] planets are simply listed with their order of distance from the sun (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc).

This is a good reference for my 6 year old. Anytime she asks me what does something mean, i tell her to go look it up in her new dictionary. And the great thing about that is she uses the dictionary for one thing and then spends much longer going through the pages to find interesting things to read about. The many illustrations keep her wanting to read and learn more.

This dictionary was on my daughters school supply list from her teacher. It's a huge book! I like that it is a hard cover book. My only issue was that after opening the book a couple times the pages are already coming apart from the binding. There is no way this book is going to last all year long. It would be nice to have a better binding. Other then that it is a great book!

We gave this dictionary to our grandson this year just before he started first grade. He began using it the first day he got it to look up the spelling of several words. He really likes it and will be using it for years to come. The color illustrations are fantastic, and for young readers this is a plus. The definitions are in simple language and easy to understand. This is the best dictionary for children that I have found.

I sometimes wish that collegiate and student dictionaries were this fun. As a child, learning was filled with colors, pictures, and vivid vibrant diagrams. It was a blast. Several editions later, the Merriam-Webster Children's dictionary still remains an easy to understand dictionary for children, with lots of interesting pictures. I remember flipping through the pages of one of the older editions, just in awe and curious about the pictures in the dictionary. Not much has changed, but the quality and quantity of pictures feel enhanced, more refined. As I had mentioned, the definitions are straight to the point and easy to understand. Certainly still one of the best children's dictionaries out there right now. Perfect for any child and even for adults! There's a saying that goes something like this: "Children's books and dictionaries are sometimes the best way to learn since it needs to be simple and easy to understand." Cheers

My daughter is 6. I bought this dictionary earlier this year/late last year. This dictionary overall has been a fantastic resource for my daughter. It has helped her learn how to use a dictionary and it has helped her learn the meaning of words (as is a dictionary's job). It explains the word in a fairly simple way. She loves her dictionary. This dictionary is not well made. Yes, we have had it for a few months, however it seems to fall apart more and more. Pros: Does its job, easy to understand, lots of words, great schoolage resource Cons: Falls apart easy, not well made.

I would love to give this dictionary 5 stars because it is just like a "real" adult dictionary, but the binding is terrible. The book we received had a cracked front binding. I secured it with some clear tape... but I imagine it won't be long before the back one cracks as well.

While tutoring a rising third grader this past summer, I purchased this dictionary for my student, who immediately was drawn to the easy to find format and layout of this book, making my job so much easier to explain how to use a dictionary and how to look for the various parts of a dictionary. Mom says he now loves to read. Thank you!

I was really impressed when this dictionary came via Amazon. Kids don't seem to "look things up" in the dictionary any more. We got this for our 9-year-old granddaughter. The other day, "grandpa" was having the granddaughter look things up in the dictionary. However, one word he came up with "arachnoid" was not in the dictionary at all. All in all, however, I find this to be a delightful book, packed with good information. Every child should have a dictionary and I highly recommend this one, almost like a single volume encyclopedia....for children.

I bought this dictionary for my 8-year old granddaughter. I saw a copy beforehand and liked that it has an abundance of color illustrations and the text seemed about right. She does a lot of independent reading and she'll probably need a more comprehensive dictionary in a year or two, but for now it's a nice introduction to using reference books. She's cat-crazy and after discovering that the cat page had photos of a number of different breeds, she and her mom searched out a library book about many more breeds of cats. And that is how we start to learn how to do research.

This product arrived with a manufacturing error (pages stuck together in the back) , and a ding in the spine that made me worried about it’s durability over time. Neither Manufacturer nor Amazon really made it right so it is on its way to be returned.

Ordered this for my 7 year old son. We homeschool and obviously every homeschool needs an age-appropriate dictionary. He has another that's quite a bit dated and very childish. This one isn't childish at all and is quite a complete volume that he will probably be able to use for ten years. It's his new favorite book! He loves the pages of maps and flags of the world and every page has quality pictures to illustrate child-appropriate definitions. It's been helpful in cementing his alphabetizing skills. He's so proud that he can look up words on his own now that he reads in his chapter books. In the beginning there's also a whole section dedicated to how to use this dictionary, but it also goes into detail on the parts of speech and grammar. Very comprehensive for a kids dictionary. I had a Scholastic kids dictionary when I was his age and I don't remember it being nearly as thorough as this one.

Must have! Has great balance and depth of information, illustrations and easy to read and understand for grades 1 and up. My 7 year old can't get enough of this book and has learned so much. Just enough to spark interest in many varieties of topics for further inquiry and learning.

I was so pleasantly surprised at how thick and comprehensive this dictionary is. We have the first encyclopedia from this series as well, and purchased this to expand my sons library this Christmas. He is only 3 and yet already has so much interest in these books. Its nice knowing how long he will have to grow into these though, since there is SO much information in here that would be of interest to a 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or even 10 year old. I look forward to the time when we will be able to send him to his dictionary to look things up all on his own, but for now we will happily sit down and answer the myriad of "why?" and "how come? and "whats that?" with this beautifully illustrated dictionary and its easy to understand explanations.

Excellent resource book for children as well as older folks. I like the fact it teaches the old fashion firm of research that can only enhance using the internet or other electronic sources.

Got it for my 8 year old daughter to learn what certain words mean. Though she wasn't as excited to use at as the Multiplication Chart I got her, I know she will depend on it more and more especially during this coming school year. I guarantee it!

I ordered the dictionary for my daughter for school. It came and the inside was completely upside down and inserted backwards! What's the point of a dictionary if it's not in ABC order. A complete waste.

Given as a present to my gran daughter to encourage her to never miss a word and its meaning; which requires her to lookup the word and its meaning. Children today now own and operate daily their iPhones, which give them the lazy option of using Sirus to help them with spelling.

The book is the best for our 6 year old. He is in the age that he is learning to spell. We didn't realize that this book was so big and thick. We love the details and the vibrant images. Explanations and geography is the best!!!!

Awesome, perfect for continuing to build your elementary child’s vocabulary. Also as they are reading books it’s very handy to have this nearby to look up a word they may not fully understand yet. In my opinion this helps to increase a child’s love of reading.

Pretty big for my son in 7, but the content is really attractive. Explanation is simple and not tedious with the pictures! One more thing want to mention, this book is really heavy, not very convenient carrying it.

Awesome!!!! This book is great for anyone, especially children. I've been wanting to get this for my 4th grader and I'm glad I finally did! Great condition also. No shipping mishaps whatsoever. I'm very pleased!

Better than I expected. When my daughter asked for a dictionary for Christmas I knew I couldn't get her a boring adult dictionary. She'd never use it and it would end up being a waste of money. This was a perfect solution for my 7 year old! There are pictures, but not too many to where it seems like it's for a toddler. The picture is very deceiving. From the picture the book doesn't look very large, but it is actually quite thick, like you'd imagine a dictionary SHOULD be.

When I tutor a child who needs to understand what the meaning of the words they are reading, I purchase one of these and show them how much fun it is to use. Children aren't taught to look up words from a early age, but the ones I tutor will!

Decided to get one for my kid so she can be able to understand definitions more easily compared to the one I use. Great addition to her book collection.

I purchased 3 of these dictionaries. I love it. My granddaughter is 7 and she was so excited when she opened this gift. I love the illustrations and the print in this dictionary. My only problem(s) was the delivery. Although the package was received after Christmas, it was to no fault of the retailer. Shipping this order through the USPS, the package was damaged and delivered late. The USPS repackaged the order and delivered it late and the packing material used (foam filing in small pieces) made it difficult to remove the foam from the books. Overall, I love the product and so does my granddaughter, niece and goddaughter.

Bought this for my six year old and he loves it! Easy to use and is full of pictures, flags, and maps in addition to the words. I highly recommend it!

It's an intermediate dictionary for my grandson. It actually matches the collegiate one that I have, but it has lots of pictures to help. I think it's less intimidating for my 9 year old grandson.He will be able to use this for a few years.

I am a school teacher and this is helping my son's vocabulary and much more! He is in the 7th grade and this is perfect for him!

The book’s binding is very flimsy. It has been used on occasion and the cover has already been ripped off...I must add that none of the kids have been rough with it at all.

This dictionary is a joy to dig into. Not only is it useful in specific situations when you need to know a word, but it's highly browsable for my child to discover new words just by flipping through it. Highly recommended.

Good dictionary but way to heavy. So it is not easy for my kid to use. Contents are awesome..with lots of colorful illustrations and pictures.

I thought it would be convenient for my kids, but it was was way too big, and heavy.

This was a gift along with another dictionary for my 7 year old Grandson! He loves the pictures and the larger print, and has been using it even on holiday vacation. It should serve him well for the next several years.

Depending on your child's speed of learning, this could be appropriate for either a first grader or even a third grader - it all depends. However, as nice as it is to have lots of pictures, you will inevitably run into words without entry in this dictionary. But that is OK, you can explain to your child early on that the world is not black and white simple - that there are many grays. The book is very heavy so it may be best to use with adult supervision as it can fall and become dangerous to little ones.

My 8-year-old granddaughter is using it and is fascinated with it. She reads at 4th grade level and this will be a great help as she LOVES to read.

I bought this dictionary for our grandson last year when he was 7 years old and I bought another one for our great niece who is 8 years old. Our daughter in law told me that our grandson has used a lot to find meaning of new words and he is learning a quite a bit. I am sure that our great niece will be using a lot as she is learning that it is good tool to find a meaning of new words. I believed that this dictionary would be beneficial to gaining new knowledge for all of children who is in school.

What good is it if the spine cannot support the weight of the book. Arrived with spine detached. This is a known issue that keeps being ignored by the manufacturer.

My granddaughter loves it! She’s learning to find her own words and definitions. Loves the vivid pictures.

This dictionary is an excellent choice. Illustrations help children to understand the definition. And definitions are easy for young graders to understand.

Great dictionary with wonderful pictures. Frustrated to spend money and receive my product with damage already. They should package better.

It's nicer than I thought. Beautiful book.

In my opinion, children's dictionaries are very pricey. I was reluctant to buy one until I realized the advantages of buying children's dictionaries such as clean words suitable for young minds, easier to read due to color pictures, illustrations, larger fonts etc. It is a must-have for any child in elementary school. You can't go wrong with any children's dictionary, though I have a slight preference for the Macmillan dictionary for children.

My 7 year old daughter loves this dictionary, and she is able to use it on her own. She also learns random facts because she enjoys looking at the pictures and reading the captions.

Hubby and I read the reviews of several children's dictionaries and even went to a couple of bookstores to physically see them and we were very impressed with this one. The others were very good too, but the illustrations on every single page of this dictionary compelled us to purchase this one for our two kids ages 6 and 8. I tested it by looking up words that I thought a children's dictionary wouldn't have such as "paraffin", "spectre", and "rosette" and was pleased to find them all. The pages are good quality paper, the printing clear and easy to read, and the photographic illustrations are very clear. Though it did have the definitions for the male and female reproductive organs, there were no pictures of them so I guess that's good if you are wanting to keep your children from seeing such things. In the back of the dictionary is a very good reference section with world maps and information about the various countries and continents, several pages of world flags, a list of the presidents of the United States, abbreviations, pronunciation guides and a picture index. This dictionary is great for kids in elementary through high school and adults can use it too. I wish I had one of these when I was in school! I can't believe a book of this scope and quality costs less that 15 dollars. A very good dictionary for anyone needing one.

A gift for my grandson. I like the smell & feel of books. Google knows everything but there's nothing like seeing for yourself.

The pictures are awesome the kids love it. Heavy book. Just take care of it and it will last. This one i cherish.its beautiful

book already fell apart

My daughter is super happy with the dictionary. She started using it immediately for her spelling assignment. However, the binding on the back of the book was damaged-not thrilled with that. It's very heavy so my daughter will have to be extra careful since it's already damaged. Overall she's happy so I can overlook the damage, but I will think twice before purchasing from this publisher.

Bought this for my 9 year old daughter for Christmas. I figured it was just a dictionary so wouldn't bother wrapping it or waiting for the holiday so I just gave it to her when it arrived a few days ago. She absolutely Loved it! I was really suprised, this is a kid who mostly loves video games and TV etc... She spent hours reading through it looking at all the pictures and learning about different things. Literally, hours! This dictionary is great for kids as it is full of colorful pictures that makes it interesting for the kids. 5 stars!!

As described

durable, photographs and illustrations are very helpful, pages are color coded too

My kids love this thing! I thought it would be a good resource on the homeschooling shelf (and it has been), but I had no idea they would spend hours browsing, looking at pictures, reading, and asking questions! This was a great purchase! Very large and thorough. Great pictures.

We homeschool and this is the absolute best learning tool for my 9 year old 4th grader. The book is very large and easy to read with large text and photos for many different words. My son's favorite part is that he can skip ahead to a certain letter by using the color tabs printed into the pages. We will use this for many, many years and with all 4 of our children.

This dictionary exceeded expectations. It is huge and the pictures and layout are wonderful. There are many wonderful pictures to draw a kid into reading this dictionary for hours. This book will be in use for years in my house.

In this very digital age you would think that a dictionary would be passe but it very necessary for school kids. My child can "Google" things and look it up on the net but this actually encourages reading and learning independence. Most parents remember being told to look it up in a large intimidating dictionary that was leather bond and small typed font that maded your eyes blur and discouraged you from ever asking: Mom/Dad you how do you spell.......? or What is ....? This is not that dictionary. It is inviting and dare I say fun and hits it target audience elementry/ middle school aged kids. The font is big enough to read but not so that it looks like a preschool primer. The pictures are rich and colorful and not cartoonish and condescending. My kids in the second grade and this dictionary could easliy keep until the eighth grade if not for revisions and updates. He hates repeat hates reading and said so himself but labeled this his favorite book. That is saying a lot considering he has tons of books at home including comicbooks. He loves being able to find the answer on his own and even his cousin in middle school asked to use his dictionary. Wow.

Very pleased with the product. Ordered it the night before and received immediately the next day. I would’ve gave it 5 stars but the dictionary was damaged and once it starts tearing a little, it’s just bound to fully fall apart. Wished it wasn’t torn.

Truly a remarkable resource to add to our children’s library! Great dictionary for children ages 5-12, which we have 3 within this range. Our youngest loves researching words he’s discovering while reading his books.

So far, this has been GREAT. It is a very large, heavy book for a child - and its weight is appreciated by me as a sign of its importance. I am so impressed with its quality, relative thoroughness, and the variety of pictures included. Well done by DK and MW. My 4.5 year old loves it and we read through it together now when he asks me what something means. He is learning how to find things in an alphabetized list. Great!

A lot bigger than I expected (clearly I didn't check out the dimensions) but is working out just fine for my two boys(5 & 8). Nice pictures and lots of words to look up. Who couldn't use a dictionary? In this age of media and technology, it's nice to do things the old fashioned way now and again. Great kids gift idea.

This exceeded my expectations. It is quite heavy. It really feels like a dictionary should feel. It is colorful and had several photos to help catch childrens attention. I am very happy with it and so is my son. It is a wonderful addition to our growing homeschool library.

An excellent book for young children; comes with complete, definitions and lots of pictures. Nicely put together but then again Mirriam-Webster has set the standard for dictionaries.

This is an excellent reference book for elementary students.

Kids love it. My 5 yrs old son even read it like a picture book. Most of the dictionaries I looked for were either had too few words or hard for young kids to understand. This one turned out to be a front runner. It includes enough words for kids reading. Also, the definition is easy enough for the youngsters. I specially like the pictures they put inside the dictionary. Definitely will recommend this as the first dictionary for young children.

Nowadays most kids use their tablets or laptops to look up definitions to words. This dictionary is a great alternative to them relying on electronics to get every answer. My kids like the pictures and children friendly definitions. It makes using the dictionary a bit more fun and colorful.

My six year old grandson loves this dictionary. He enjoys finding words and also exploring. Excellent value.

I home school and I wanted my child to be able to look up words instead of looking up on a computer for his definitions. It's a really well put together children's dictionary. Great pictures and illustrations. I will agree with other reviewers, it is quite heavy to carry around.

THIS dictionary helped me a lot. I have dyslexia and other disabilities. Having a hard time learning different things. I like it the most of it if I can't read the word there is a picture this show what it is.

Para los niños es excelente por sus figuras dibujos lindo

My son I 6 years old. He loves this reading half a page a day. The pages are so active with photos and additional information for some of the definitions.

Fantastic dictionary! This is the fourth purchase of this so far and expected to buy more as gifts. Vibrant colors and full of pictures. Highly recommend, you should buy! 👍🏼

Not everything is on line - young elementary students need resources like these at home for completing homework

Even with the internet, it’s nice to have this volume on hand.

I bought the dictionary for my 7 year old grandson. He loves to read and is interested in definitions of words. He is a very good speller and I thought that this dictionary would pique his interests. It is beautifully illustrated full of wonderful information for a developing mind. I highly recommend this book for all ages, not just kids. It is fun to explore through the pages.

My six year old wanted to know all the words in the world, so I started him off with this. Love this dictionary. He sits and looks through it all the time. Pictures are fantastic!

Great book but this is my 3rd attempt to get a book that is not destroyed. The corners were either damaged or torn.

So colorful and full of life! I love the illustrations!

I bought this for my 6 year old in the 1st grade. She enjoys the pictures and starting to learn how to use the dictionary while reading her books. The print is a little small for a middle-age geezer but I assume it's fine for younger eyes. The picture are in full color. The dictionary itself is heavier that I thought but manageable.

Great Dictionary. Bought this for my first grader. She loves it. I love showing her how to use it. It is easy for her to follow and has great pictures for some of the words. She loves to look up words she is unsure of spelling. Great "pick" for children 6 years old and up. With the use of computers, I feel using a dictionary is almost becoming a lost tool/ resource.

Vey nice dictionary, lots of pictures, hard covers, cheap, very detailed, my daughter loves it. We had an older version of M-W Dictionary and she was quite often frustrated for not findinng the word she was looking for...Not with this one! Ha an extra 5 000 words added and double the amount of ilustrations, also well organized. No complaints so far...Will come with an update later on...

This is a very good, high quality dictionary. I bought if for my 7 year old son. I'm sure he will love it in future years, as he writes more. The only thing is that it's very heavy for him to pick up.

Given as a gift to my niece on her seventh birthday. She loved all the great pics and has fun just flipping through it learning new things :)

The binding ripped after the first week. This book will end up falling apart very soon.

This dictionary is huge!!! Filled with words my son has yet to learn. I am looking forward to helping him learn using this book. The only thing I wish is that it had the contents on the side...to let him know where the new letters begin.

Is a dictionary and it works.

My daughter are loving this big book. I have found them just thumbing through the pages exploring. The pictures are a quick reference guide for them.

Very good dictionary for kids. It has pictures on some of the words. Easy to use for a 3rd grader

She had a hard time lifting it and was not as interested as I hoped she would be

I got this for my 7yr old son. I was impressed by the detail and quality of it. It's very heavy and east to read with simple print and explanations. This would be great up to the early high school years.

Excellent dictionary for elementary school children. Each week she has to define her spelling words. The larger print and pictures make it easier for her to find the words.

This book is perfect for the 2j-5th grade students who need to look up words. The experience of looking up the word is much better than asking the cell phone for the answer. Book is really heavy because of the amount of words but it is worth it. thanks

Got this book for my son he loves it

I got this just as one of my kids was understanding the idea of alphabetization and alphabetical order -- but I think it was probably still too early for him (he was 6 years old and reads quite well already). The material is pretty well presented, so I think that in a couple of years it will be a useful tool for reading and school.

Great book with many illustrations

A good children's first dictionary from a trusted publisher. It covers many words that children encounter daily. However, it is NOT a complete dictionary. It is a must to teach children how to use a dictionary and to introduce them to the habit of looking up the meaning of words (which parents actively have to encourage and mirror). A word of caution: for young kids that have limited word skills, the explanation of the words can sometimes be just as confusing as the word itself. May need to be used together with a good thesaurus for younger kids. I often had to look up in a thesaurus for adults to give examples and try to explain the words. That is why I gave it 4 stars.

This dictionary was more than I expected, I am very pleased with this purchase.

Don't even bother to look at any other dictionary for your children. This is simply the best. Beautiful pictures and larger print making this Dictionary exciting for the kids to look at. You will find yourself looking at it for hours. I have bought several for kids Birthdays and also at Christmas. I donated one to my local elementary school.

Since I tutor elementary school children with their reading skills, this book is just awesome. The children love the illustrations, all the other information that is available in the back. I love it.

This is super easy for my 2nd grader to use and she just enjoys thumbing through it from time to time

Great dictionary for my 7 year old to use for homeschooling. It could be a little more durable, but it's still a good dictionary.

My only complaint is that it now takes my son double the time to complete his vocabulary lessons because he's so interested in reading this book. There could be worse problems.

The child I purchased this for seems to enjoy it and sure does get his use out of it. I was impressed at all the diagrams and photos throughout this book. I wish they had these when I was a kid! A really beautiful book.

I got this for my 7 year old niece, who just started reading chapter books. I wanted to encourage her habit and help her as she starts reading harder books. Also, I used to love reading the dictionary when I was younger, and this is one I would have loved. She just got it and she loves it. My mom, a kindergarten teacher, also said it's fantastic. Highly recommended.

My daughter loves it. She took it to school and the teacher loved it (and dropped it and breaking binding 🙁). It has great information about the words and draws my daughter in.

My kids are 3 & 4 and we use this to look up things here and there. It usually satisfies whatever question they have about something. I'd guess that by age 8 you'd start using a regular dictionary or encyclopedia.

I purchased these books for our 3rd grade students. The bindings are already falling apart. I do not believe they will hold up for the rest of the year. I will now spend extra money to purchase tape to hold them together.

Just recieved this item today and the inside of the book is torn right off the binding 😢 not impressed. How ever the contents of the dictionary are awesome. Just wish the product was better put together

Amazing Dictionary for kids. Well worth it.

Wonderful buy - nice quality

I love this dictionary...excellent resource for my second grader who always wants to know what words mean! Can definitely be utilized by older children as well; beautifully illustrated...this is a major plus and we love it!

Good book 📖 big and heavy 😂

We are a homeschooling family. All of my children are still in elementary grades. This is the best children's dictionary I have seen so far. We use it almost every day. Most words that my children need to look up can be found in here. I highly recommend it!

I realize that dictionaries are practically as defunct as encyclopedias, but there are still some uses....like teaching your kid how to look up things that are alphabetical. My son is still resistant to using it, so it is more of a colorful display in his book shelf, yet still I have no regrets in purchasing it.

Aaa

good

The kids loved this dictionary.. It was the perfect introduction for helping them help themselves. Even the 2 year old enjoys the dictionary. Recommended for children well into age 18 and above.

Your kids need this! What a great book, really helps with spelling!

I like this book very much, however, when I read the book, I find some broken pages. Which make my kids so disappointed.

My second-grader needed a dictionary for school, and this one not only is expansive, but it also is very kid-friendly. My grandson is not very bookish, but he enjoys this one, because it contains just about "every word you could imagine," in his words, and because it is seductively beautiful and brightly illustrated with decent print, as reflected in his eyes. It has been a long time since I thought of a dictionary as "fun", but now I remember what it was like to explore the English language at a young age of discovery. What's more, this dictionary is more fun to read, while pondering its copious illustrations that seem to jump off the page, than even the encyclopedic dictionaries of old. To my mind, this is a near-perfect dictionary for the young (and even for the young-at-heart). This partnership of Merriam-Webster and DK is stunning, just stunning. The only negative to such an ambitiously large compendium of knowledge obviously is its size and weight. But not only did my grandson not complain about how large and heavy it is, but he has happily carried this dictionary everywhere, seemingly proud to display such a "weighty" and "beautiful" book for all to see. To tell the truth, he does look smarter just holding it. What's more, it seems not only well designed, but also well manufactured, with a real protective cover, and thick pages, that should hold up well to many years of use by young hands. Frankly, for such quality, the price seems an unbelievable bargain.

My kids love looking through this dictionary purely for the colorful pictures. I still believe kids should know how to look up words in a paper dictionary so I bought this and my kids are having so much fun looking through it just for kicks. So far there hasn't been a word we've needed that we didn't find in the book.

I love this dictionary. Our kids are young and we use it almost every day. Sometimes, the older kids (9 & 7 years old) just get it out and read it. The pictures and captions are fun and interesting. Merriam-Webster has been in the dictionary business for like 200 years, so it's not really surprising that they know what their doing.

We got it recently and my 7 year old daughter likes it so far. She likes the pictures.. It helps with vocabulary words in her homework. So far seems to be very informative. But will know more as we explore further.

I am a homeschool mom and was looking for a dictionary appropriate for my sons, ages 8 & 9. This is it. Enables them to learn dictionary skills and meanings of words, but isn't overwhelming like a standard dictionary would be. Nice illustrations, too. This is the perfect homeschool companion.

Nice size, colorful illustrations, young student-friendly. Enjoys reading and being read to, as if it is a short story book!

We had our first copy for over 10 years. This updated dictionary is the same great quality that we experienced with our last edition. Definite recommend!

wow! what a book. super large, but so good

Received it today and my homeschool son 7years old has been looking through it all day! Nice book

My 1st grader loves the dictionary but it's a HUGE book and needs way better binding. The slime broke after 2 days. It should be sturdier for a children's book

My granddaughter loves this dictionary! She sits and reads it as if it were a book!

excellent for young children

My daughter who is 3rd grade likes it and it helps her with spelling word homework.

This dictionary has been great for my 9 y/o after school homework.

Wonderfully put together. I love the pictures and the simplicity of this dictionary. Every child should have a dictionary and I nominate this one to be it!

Both of my sons, 8 and 5, Love is dictionary. We love the illustrations. It is super heavy though

We bought this for my 6 year old that is now 7. I would have to say that it is a bit advance for him, but love that he can grow into it.

I recommend