Merriam-Webster’s Elementary Dictionary

I ordered this for my twin grandsons who are finishing up their kindergarten year. They have been receiving online instruction for most of the school year but I was amazed at the amount of sight words as well as phonics instruction they have received thus far. So, I decided this summer would be a good time to teach them how to use a dictionary. This was the only one that I felt would be appropriate for them as the others with high ratings are for children 8+. I checked the dictionary since there were some reviews of missing pages, etc. but as far as I can tell, there were no problems with the one I received. For less than $10, this is a great childrens dictionary.

My daughter (7 years old) loves reading this. Sometimes she’ll sneak it to bed with her or get up and grab it. I can think of much worse things to get frustrated about. Rate it between easy and moderate. Depends on the person.

Great for children learning how to look up words and thier pronounciations. The words could have been in a larger font but other than that it was ok

My 3rd grade granddaughter reads well above the expected level, but when I asked her what she does when she does not know what a word means, she shrugged and gave me a look like what are you talking about? I know that she does not know words that she reads when she mispronounces them. She has limited access to screen time and has no phone, so she needs a non-digital helper. So this is what I bought for her. She may think its a weird gift now, but she uses it, shell be smarter for it.

Purchased this along with another dictionary for an older child, and this Elementary Version beat the other hands down - in the way its laid out, quality of the paper and print. The book is heavier than most, because of the quality of the paper - but its not a 3 or 4 inch book. Its for kids, so I dont expect every word is included. It should get her by for quite a few years. Giving it away as a gift.

My grandson loves reading and he reads above his age so he needed some word help. The book is terrific with plenty of interesting side lights to help a reader expand their vocabulary. Pages are handleable by a 7 year old, no ripping or tearing.

This dictionary was designed with children in mind. My nine-year-old has an easy time using it for homework assignments. It has some pictures and detailed instructions on how to use the dictionary. It has so many features including a guide for writers, Greek and Latin roots in English, and a map of the United States and the world among other features. I recommended for parents as their childs first dictionary.

I bought this book for a third grader and it is very colorful and easy to read. Clear and concise definitions. Each alphabet is color coded which is helpful to find words.

This dictionary is pretty thick and heavy. It has lots of words listed in it, but does not tell any stories. The words are all listed in alphabetical order separated by syllables using dots. The words are followed by the phonetic pronunciation, then the definition. I wish there were more stories in this book. I dont understand why someone would look up words they dont know how to spell by spelling them and looking them up. It is so confusing. (Insert snarky grin here) In all seriousness, its a dictionary. That should be self explanatory. My kiddos use it for school. I think the spacing could be a little better, but if it were the book would be enormous.

Our usual dictionary intimidated my son and the long alternate definitions for some words left him overwhelmed, so we ordered this and thought it would be a great entry level dictionary. It is easy to use and the definitions are short (so that is a plus for usability), but it is missing a lot of words that I think are reasonable to have assumed would be in even an entry level dictionary (for example, words common in current events or science). It is turning out to not be that useful to us, because many words that my 8 year old needs help with are not in this dictionary. It might be more appropriate for my 6 year old learning to read.