The Dictionary Story: Brand new picture book from Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston

The Dictionary Story is a quirky, clever book that explores how we can use words. The front cover shows a book with characters peeping out and invites children to read, explore and have fun! The end papers are covered in dictionary-style words which easily engages children as a starting point to this unusual book.

Dictionary is the main character in this book and feels left out because "she didn't tell a STORY like all the other books".  However, with a bit of imagination and lots of wonderful words from her pages, she creates a fantastic story "bringing her words to LIFE!"

Dictionary's story unfurls with familiar dictionary-style words throughout the book and the amazing illustrations by Oliver Jeffers, which help to tell the story of an alligator, a donut, a ghost, a Queen and much, much more. The text and illustrations help the reader to enter Dictionary's story with humour and an understanding that words have meaning and can weave the most wonderful, creative stories!

This delightful book would be a good starting point for children to create stories from a collection of words just like Sam Winston. The Dictionary Story would definitely ignite the imagination of children, giving them the understanding that anything can happen in a story, helping them understand the magic of words, and inspiring them to be authors, too! How powerful!!

The Dictionary Story also gives opportunities for dictionary work and for exploring the role of a dictionary and how it helps children and adults understand the alphabet (alphabetical order) and understanding the meaning of words. Children could also explore synonyms and antonyms, adding to their understanding of words and the role of the dictionary.

Well done to Sam Winston and Oliver Jeffers for a fabulous book with so many opportunities for children to create and write!

Picture book / Reviewed by Maria, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 5+