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Learning to use a dictionary is an important skill for young scholars, and MacMillan offers a great edition for 8 to 14 year olds. The Dictionary for Children is sensible, well designed, and illustrated with plenty of pictures. Each letter gets a mini-exploration of its role in sounds and spelling; for example, "B has only one sound in English, as in bad and both, but it is sometimes doubled as in rabbit. The letter B is also silent in some words such as climb, comb, or plumber." Definitions are clear but not oversimplified, and homonyms are identified so that spellers won't be confused: words that sound like flue "are flew and flu." The type is large enough to be readable, and the tone is serious but not pretentious. The MacMillan Dictionary for Children has long been a favorite with kids, and this version, revised for the 21st century, is even better than previous editions.
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