Merriam-Webster's Primary Dictionary Hardcover – January 1, 2005

I bought this for my first grader. The print is nice and large, and there are beautiful illustrations by Ruth Heller (amazing artist!)on each page. The definitions are perfect for pre-K to 2nd grade students, and the vocabulary used is simple enough for young students to read independently.I had seen these dictionaries in our school library, so I knew that some more advanced words might not be found in this dictionary. I bought it anyway, because this dictionary offers so much more. It includes jokes, synonyms/antonyms, facts, and idioms that engage kids. My daughter reads this dictionary for the jokes, etc, as often as she uses it to look up spellings/meanings of words.So, in short, if you are just looking for a dictionary that has words for kids to look up for homework, etc, the M-W Elementary Dictionary (or the Scholastic Children's Dictionary, which we also have) might be better suited for that purpose. But if you are looking for a fun dictionary that will engage young children and allow them to explore words/language, I can't imagine that there's a better dictionary available than this one.

As a teacher of kindergarten and first grade, I heartily recommend this dictionary for the primary age group. This dictionary is aimed at 5 - 7 year olds and is a wonderful resource. It has around 2000 entries, but does not pretend to cover the complete vocabulary of children this age. It is, however, rich in content and appealing in format and appearance. (The illustrations are by Ruth Heller, one of my favorite illustrators for children's books.) The entries include fascinating facts about the origins of words. This dictionary includes figurative meanings, idiomatic expressions and language oddities. It is an excellent resource for introducing the use of dictionaries.

My son loves it so much! And that makes me give it 5 stars, even though he didn't find one of the words he was looking for, but it's ok.... i understand, obviously in this kind of dictionaries you are not going to find all the same words that u could find in a regular dictionary... Big font and nice illustrations, and I also love it that each word comes with an example, a sentence to understand better the meaning and how we can use that word

Easy to use and arrived promptly.

It is a great beginner dictionary for children ages preschool to 2 grade. I like that they use the words in a sentence. It gives a better understanding of the word.

For pre K and Kindergarten. I thought it was for K-5.

My daughter in law asked for this to be one of the gifts for her 4 daughters. She home schools 3 of them at this time. She was happy we gave it to them!

I came across a copy of this and the jokes won me over! I had to get a copy my daughter and husband to enjoy together. Who knew a dictionary would turn out to be our best joke book! (it is great as a dictionary too, I suppose.)