Britannica's Word of the Day by Patrick Kelly, Renee Kelly and Sue Macy
| Britannica's Word of the Day by Patrick Kelly, Renee Kelly and Sue Macy | |
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| Category: Children's Non-Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: It's pitched and children from the age of eight and upwards but an awful lot of adults would get a great deal from this book. Highly recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 354 | Date: July 2022 |
| Publisher: Britannica Books | |
| ISBN: 978-1913750350 | |
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Britannica's Word of the Day has a sub-title: 366 Elevating Utterances to Stretch Your Cranium and Tickle Your Humerus which probably tells you all that you need to know about this brilliant book. It starts on January 1st with Razzmatazz, tells you how to pronounce it (raz-muh-TAZ), gives you a definition and then includes the word in a sentence so that you know how it should be used. You also get an engaging and frequently amusing illustration too. I don't think I've ever encountered a word which uses the letter Z four times before!
The book might start on 1 January but there's nothing to stop you from starting the book on any day of the year. I'm writing this review on 16 July, when the word is Marine. Did you know that we know more about the surface of Mars than we do about the ocean floor? If you gave the book as a Christmas present (highly recommended) the recipient would start with Jocular. You then work your way to the end and start at the beginning of the book again. Leap years are even accommodated: on 29 February the word is Quadrennial – occurring every four years.
At the end of every month, there's a story of the month: a short tale which uses all the words which you've used throughout the month. Some of them had me laughing out loud! When I got to the end of the book, I couldn't help but feel that I'd been entertained, rather than educated, although I did learn quite a few new words and found that I'd been misusing some old ones.
The book is marketed for children of eight years and upwards but I can't imagine that anyone is going to feel patronised by the choice of vocabulary. The youngest children will find some of the words challenging but there's plenty of help in terms of pronunciation, usage and meaning. I liked that there is the encouragement to learn just one new word a day. I vividly remember the lists of vocabulary which I used to bring home from school: I generally learned how to spell them but I'm sure that I would have been better mastering just one word completely.
The whole family is going to get a lot of fun from this book: it turns learning into entertainment rather than education. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
If this book appeals, you might also enjoy Children's Illustrated Thesaurus by DK.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Britannica's Word of the Day by Patrick Kelly, Renee Kelly and Sue Macy at Amazon.com.
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