Review by Lesley Finlay
Published by Collins
Now before you all dash to the phones to call in the men/women in white coats let me explain. When this bright pink tome with the ubiquitous Japanese white cat with no mouth landed on my desk I was tempted to bung it in the bin. But then I remembered, this is not aimed at me but for youngsters, and more specifically, girls.
Hello Kitty Dictionary does what it says on the cover – helps with writing and spelling (errr, like all dictionaries), it is brightly coloured (more is more) but also offers some really brilliant spelling, punctuation, pronunciation and usage tips. For example, tricky spellings are tagged ‘how to remember’ – William is in parliament and there are suggestions on how to improve vocabulary ‘some other words to use’ – instead of old, use aged, elderly and ancient. Grammar features strongly in sections called ‘how English works’ – useful for those new, Year 6 SATS.
This is a brilliant, useful first dictionary that should help young readers navigate their way around the original and best reference book, more easily than any dictionary website.
There happens to be a Hello Kitty fan in the house, who happened upon this dictionary, picked it up and started reading it. Job done.