SEEK & FIND PICTURE DICTIONARY

On a dozen spreads, jam-packed scenes depict words all beginning with the same letter.

Subsequent pages of clear print, with some pictures, provide parts of speech, simple pronunciation, and very brief definitions for most of the items and activities depicted. Despite the usually serviceable definitions, this book has several shortcomings as a dictionary. The target reader’s age is unclear: The word chord, as in both geometry and music, but a clam is a “shelled creature” rather than a “mollusk” (though mollusk appears elsewhere, as do vertebrates and invertebrate). The definitions of even and odd don’t mention numbers. The meaning for eclipse describes only a lunar eclipse. The primary definition of continue is to prolong, without interruption, not, as here, “to go on after something has stopped.” Free is labeled as both adjective and verb, but only the adjective meanings are given. And more. But brightly colored mosaiclike illustrations fit an astounding number of people, things, and amusing actions into one compact space: an airport terminal, a street, a classroom, a seaside, a park, a castle, a kitchen, a store, etc. Humans of various skin tones, and other creatures, busy themselves in these entertaining scenes. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Despite some missteps, sharp-eyed readers will find absorbing word-recall practice here.