My First Canadian Oxford Thesaurus

Anne Hutchings, a former elementary-school teacher-librarian with the
Durham Board of Education, is an educational consultant.

Good dictionaries for primary children are few and far between, a good
thesaurus even rarer. These new offerings from Oxford University Press
Canada fill the void very well.

My Very First Canadian Oxford Dictionary includes more than 300 common
words, each with a cartoonlike illustration and simple sentence, both of
which are frequently necessary to define the term. (For example,
“fox” is defined as “a wild animal with a furry tail,” a
description that could fit many animals, but the image helps to clarify
it.)

Each letter section (most of which consist of a two-page spread) begins
with both upper- and lower-case letters accompanied by an illustration.
The entire alphabet is printed along the side of every page with the
featured letter highlighted, enabling children to note its relative
location in the alphabet. Verbs (doing words) are identified with a blue
symbol. Lists of frequently used words (verbs, colours, shapes, days of
the week, months, numbers) are included.

Most preschoolers will have discovered that print is read left to
right. Because this “very first dictionary” follows the common
two-column format, they may well find it confusing to read top to
bottom, then left to right. Nevertheless, the volume would be an
excellent way to introduce very young children to the dictionary and its
use.

My First Canadian Oxford Dictionary is similar in format but broader in
scope. Guide words are used. Plurals (apple–apples, baby–babies),
word endings (guess–guessing–guessed), and comparative and
superlative forms (good–better–best) are shown in parentheses. Words
that have multiple meanings and words that can be used in different ways
(noun/verb) are noted. Lists of opposites, animals (wild, farm, pets,
etc.), fruits and vegetables, parts of the body, and so forth are found
at the end of the book. A bonus is the map of Canada, identifying the
provinces and capitals, inside the back cover.

My First Canadian Thesaurus, like the two dictionaries, has the
alphabet printed along the side of every page to assist with
alphabetical order. The headwords (arranged alphabetically) are printed
in red and accompanied by a definition. Synonyms are in bold blue type,
and example sentences are printed in italics. Antonyms are shown in bold
type highlighted in pale blue. In some cases, related words are added
(e.g., for the headword “sound,” many kinds of sounds—bang, beep,
bubble, buzz, toot, whirr, whistle, etc.—are listed). A handy index
concludes the book.

Canadian content is evident in all three volumes. In My Very First
Canadian Oxford Dictionary, the Bluenose is shown on the dime and the
flag is Canadian. Similarly, My First Canadian Oxford Dictionary
includes a loon and a maple tree. In all three, children are depicted
from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.

In addition to their educational value, these colourful, attractively
designed volumes will provide hours of enjoyment for preschoolers and
primary-grade children who simply browse through them. Sturdily bound,
they will stand up to plenty of wear and tear. All the dictionaries are
recommended.