The heart of the American Heritage Children's Dictionary is over 37,000 definitions for 13,000 different words. These entries are filled with information. There is the standard written and spoken pronunciation, syllable breakdown, example of usage, and the definition itself. The entries also include various forms of the word-like plural, past, and present forms-to show how words change when used in different ways. If this is not enough, some entries have a list of additional information about the word, such as alternative words, synonyms, idioms, or the word's history, as well as related words. Disappointingly, less than one-third of the definitions contain an illustration, a valued feature for young learners.
The title includes a separate entry for each part of speech for which a word may be used, such as noun, verb, or adjective. If a word has several Parts of Speech forms, and each has more than one definition, navigating through them can be confusing. It is possible to miss alternative definitions for a word without realizing it.
Children locate definitions by browsing through an index of words or by searching for a specific word. If they see a word in a definition they do not recognize, a simple click on the word will switch to its definition. For fun, they can check out the Word of the Day or let the title choose a random word. The title keeps a list of the six most recently visited words, making it easy to return to a previous entry. Children can also place bookmarks at entries where they want to return later.
The most entertaining area of the title is the Alphabet Park. Each letter of the alphabet has a collage of objects representing words beginning with that letter. For example, choosing the letter R displays a picture that includes a robot, a reptile, the verb repair, and so forth. Children click on any object in the picture to see the word, hear it pronounced, and watch the object act out its definition. Half of the fun is finding all of the hidden word objects. Of course, the children can jump directly to word definitions in the dictionary. Oddly, the title does not have a way to return directly to the collage.
To test their spelling skills, students can play three different games: Charades, Spelling Bee, or Hangman-each at three levels of difficulty. In Charades, students race a clock to guess a mystery word. Clues to the word are given as pictures, the number of syllables, or a few of the missing letters. Hangman and Spelling Bee are old standards, but both are effective and fun. In Hangman, even making a wrong choice is fun, since bad guesses are disposed of by a letter-eating fish.
Most of the documentation is accessed through the title's help system. Unfortunately, its arrangement is confusing, and navigating the system is clunky. A potentially useful help feature, where children point to a control and the title automatically displays its help, actually adds to the confusion. Children reading help will find themselves suddenly reading a different topic if they let the pointer wander outside the topic area. Even leaving help poses its problems. Because the control to close help is the same control children use to exit the title, many avoid selecting it for fear they will exit the program. Dustin Kassman writes and reviews software in Corvallis, OR.
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