More than two centuries after Noah Webster published the first American dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, the publishing house that bears his name is developing a line of books for children young enough that they might someday see it turn 300. On August 3, the Springfield, Mass.-based publisher announced the forthcoming release of two titles that will launch Merriam-Webster Kids.
Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day: 366 Elevating Utterances to Stretch Your Cranium and Tickle Your Humerus turns the publisher’s online word-of-the day series into an interactive, illustrated format for children ages 8–12. Along with new words each day, the book offers example sentences for usage, contextualized facts, and 12 stories that incorporate each month’s words. A QR code with each story links to an audio download of story narration by celebrity authors, including Rachel Bloom, David Harbour, and Soledad O’Brien.
The publisher is also releasing an oversized board book for younger readers, Merriam-Webster’s 150 First Words, which arrays new words across the top of each page while portraying landscapes and scenes from daily life in which the images associated with the words appear. The book was written by speech-language pathologist Claire Laties-Davis, and is intended to create interactions between parents and children that boost language acquisition.
Both books are slated for release in October, and the publisher intends to follow with a series of activity books, illustrated dictionaries, and storybooks. “Reading with children from an early age helps build lifelong literacy skills,” Greg Barlow, president of Merriam-Webster, said in a statement. “And those skills open worlds. Through reading, kids learn about the world around them, the world beyond them, and the infinite worlds yet to be imagined.”
