It’s almost time for the kids to go back to school! I’ve been trying to keep mine busy with camp and outdoor activities as much as possible this summer. In between all the ‘fun’ time we try to work on some necessary school related skills like their reading and printing. It is important to try to find a balance between work and play.

My son is eager to learn and he will quietly work on his ‘homework’ while I type away on the computer writing my blog posts. I thought he might enjoy this Children’s Illustrated Thesaurus and I (thankfully) was right! He thinks it is amazing that there are so many words which mean almost the same thing and now that he can read on his own, he enjoys flipping through this book to find new words he can use. Then, once and while, when we are not expecting it, he tosses one out mid conversation to surprise us and it is pretty darn cute!

Title: Children’s Illustrated Thesaurus
Published By: Dorling Kindersley, June 6, 2017
ISBN:  9781553632863
Pages: 256

Children’s Illustrated Thesaurus Book Review

I have always enjoyed a good Thesaurus – yes I admit, I am a total Geek. It all began when we started writing ‘papers’ in high-school. The teachers told us we shouldn’t use the same descriptive word more than once in a sentence. I went home and pulled my Dad’s old thesaurus off the shelf and started flipping through it and I was amazed by how many different words have the same (or very similar) meanings. I really had fun choosing alternate words to use when I was writing my essays and even today when I am writing blog posts you will find me occasionally flipping through my handy old thesaurus for other words I can use.

When Colleen asked which Back To School with DK books I would like to review and I saw the Canadian Edition of the Children’s Illustrated Thesaurus was available, I quickly requested it.  Expanding my children’s vocabulary is important to me because sometimes you need to be able to explain things in different ways for people to be able to understand what you mean. In some situations, just changing which words we use in our explanation is enough to help the listener understand the point we are trying to make. The English language can be a bit tricky and when someone is translating words which they hear in their mind to figure out what we are trying to say, simply changing the word vehicle to car could be the key to making your sentence make sense.

The Children’s Illustrated Thesaurus includes a section at the beginning which explains how and why you should use the Thesaurus.

The Children’s Illustrated Thesaurus includes more than 4000 words. The thesaurus provides 36000+ synonyms (words that mean the same or similar) and also antonyms (words which mean the opposite). Parts of speech, such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and interjections are explained, as well as, how to properly form a sentence. Definitions of each word in the Thesaurus are provided and if there are different forms (like a noun and verb) of the same word, the word will have a number in a box following it.

Along the side edges of each page you will find an Alphabet Bar. The highlighted letter denotes the section you are currently in and the side edges of the pages transition from one color to another when you change letter sections.

The text on the pages is clear and easy to read. Images, diagrams and photographs are included on each page and they are bright and colorful. The book is designed to capture and hold your attention.

If you want to encourage your children to learn to use a thesaurus too, the Children’s Illustrated Thesaurus is a great place to start. Along with teaching your children synonyms and antonyms for common words, it will help them to improve their overall vocabulary.  The Children’s Illustrated Thesaurus is a great teaching resource as it includes the proper spelling of the words, definitions, parts of speech and sentence formation tips to help your children learn how to communicate effectively with people in their writing and in their speech.

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You can purchase your own copy of Children’s Illustrated Thesaurus directly from Amazon.

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All images are used with permission from DK Canada Books. For more information about DK Canada Books – visit their Website, Facebook or Twitter!