Once Upon a Word: A Word-Origin Dictionary for Kids―Building Vocabulary Through Etymology, Definitions & Stories

This is perfect to use for vocabulary and word parts in my 4th grade ELA class. So glad I bought it that I bought another for the students!

Love this fascinating book! Entertaining and instructive.

I teach ELA and love having this book on hand to go over the origin and morphology of words. So fun!

This book is fabulous. Exactly what I’ve been looking for to use with my elementary students who are enjoying our study of word origins. Visually stunning and richly entertaining while giving structured information on etymology and morphology.

While this book is intended for kids, aged 9-12 years old (or grades 4 to 6), it is fascinating to an adult, even one who was an English major. Many tidbits of information set off “light bulbs” over our heads, as in “I never knew that!” Depending on your children, they may make fun of you for reading it. Just ignore them. They're probably jealous because it's a fun book to read.The author explains that etymology studies the way words have changed over time. Kids can also build their vocabulary and learn to guess what a word means by studying its various parts. “When you can guess the meaning of any word, you can read any book,” states the author. That seems like an exaggeration but I suspect it’s true in many cases.Today’s English is a hodgepodge of words adopted from many languages: from Anglo-Saxon, Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Arabic, Native American languages and so many more! Yet English is the official international language of the sea (Seaspeak), and civil aviation.The two most confusing parts of English are that so many words have silent letters in them and even without that, there’s more than one way of pronouncing a syllable, depending on its origin and the word it’s in. I’ve always felt glad English was my native language. My hat is off to all those trying to learn it from the “outside”. Yet there is never an end to learning for any of us. Having a book like Once Upon a Word would have been a lot of fun when I was growing up.The book has plenty of interesting directions for a child to become a word detective. The bulk of the pages comprise a dictionary with fun illustrations included. I won’t say what they are but a few of my favorite mysterious words are missing from the definitions. It wouldn’t be possible for any author to include every strange-looking or funny-sounding word we have, but this was an ambitious book that should whet a child’s appetite for learning.The publisher provided a review copy of the book. I’ll be keeping it until relatives or the children of friends are old enough to appreciate it.

Anyone who loves words will love this book

I LOVE this book! It shows roots and affixes, it explains when to use what, and is overall easy to use. I bought this as an additional dictionary in my EBD classroom- and I am using it as my go to resource. Fantastically put together and perfectly organized. Great resource and I am probably going to have to buy more. 😊😊 (this time for the students 😂)

Heard interview with author on WGBH radio Boston. Neither my son nor his 8-year-old son can put it down--they read a page together each night.