Vocabulary plays a very crucial part in the field of education. It helps a child in learning to read and write. Like, when a child starts to identify the image and letters of a book, he/ she also tries to speak the sound of that letter and then the word.
Gradually, when he understands that he knows the word quite well, like CAT, he is able to read it properly and that too with self-confidence. However, what about when a child comes across a word or image that he does not know or has never seen before.
Well, in that case his self-confidence might shake a bit, and he might start feeling insecure. Well, such are the cases when vocabulary books for children come handy. Not just young kids, older children also, at times, come across a situation when they are unable to speak a word that they do not know the meaning of or have heard.
Must-Have Vocabulary Books for Kids To Build a Strong Vocabulary
Having a good and creative vocabulary is very important for learning how to read. But sometimes, we do get confused about how to find interesting ways to teach our children. So, in order to find some fun and effective ways to teach our kids, you can go through our article titled Fun and Effective Way to Teach Kids.
At times, we want to buy some toys and books for young ones that are fun as well as teach, so for that you can take help of our article Best Alphabet Learning Toys and Books for Kids.
Today, we will study about the Best Vocabulary Books for Kids that will teach you how to inculcate vocabulary development in your child’s future learning plans.
However, before moving forward, let me talk to you about our number one choice and best value pick of a vocabulary book for the kids.
Our #1 Choice: First 100 Words, It is a very colourful board book, whose pages are made of tough cardboard so they cannot be torn easily. It has a huge range of simple words.
Best Choice for 3-6 Year Old Kids: Banish Boring Words, This book has a list of 40+ words. It will help a child learn these words, understand their meaning and know the words with similar meanings too.
Best Choice for 7+ Year Old Kids: Merriam-Webster Children’s Dictionary, It is a must-have for every growing child to be used in school as well as at home. It has images, along with the words and their meanings too.
Now, let us learn about the ten must-have vocabulary books for kids.
1. My First 1000 Words
It is an early learning book for young kids. It teaches them small words, which will be easy for them to remember and understand, as well. This book has words starting from all letters, of different shapes and colours, names of different means of transport, professions, parts of human body and the object around us.
Also, all the content given in this book is age-appropriate and hence the children are able to learn the words easily, which brings them a lot of joy.
How this book helps in learning?
All the words given in this book help a child in expanding his vocabulary. The book also has an index in it, which makes locating any particular word quite easy. Many small activities given in the book help the children revise what they have learnt, as well.
- Best Suitable for Age: 2 to 4 years
- Our Rating: 4.8 out of 5
2. Blossom English Vocabulary Book
This book has a range of itself which is quite apt for children. This is quite an interesting book, which enhances the word power of a child to a huge extent. It has many exciting activities that tend to keep the child engaged.
The entire book is written in a very simple manner, which makes it very easy to understand.
How this book helps in learning?
This book helps a child in build his vocabulary by upgrading his linguistic skills through a series of topics, like spelling, words and their meaning and singular and plural words, as well. The book also helps a child in improving his/ her communication skills.
- Best Suitable for Age: 5 to 10 years
- Our Rating: 4.6 out of 5
3. First 100 Words
This book is our number one choice among our list of the top ten must-have vocabulary books for kids. It is entirely made on soft padded board, which makes it the best first word book to be given to a young child or baby. Due to it being made of board, the child will not be able to destroy the book in any way, easily.
Through this book, your little one will learn to read, speak and write new and small words. All the words given in the book are those that are used in our daily lives. Through this book, the child himself will be able to look at the picture and understand the word and then speak it, as well.
How this book helps in learning?
This book will help the child in learning vocabulary with the help of its many beautiful images. The big font sizes of all the words that are written make it easier for the kids to read the word. It has more than 100 images and words for a child to see, be able to read and learn.
- Best Suitable for Age: 2 to 5 years
- Our Rating: 5 out of 5
4. 10 Minutes a Day Vocabulary
This book helps a child become a master in vocabulary if he/ she spend just 10 minutes reading it, every day. It acts as an ideal beginning for youngsters to enter the world of words. It has many games and small tests in it, which will help your child in improving his spelling and pronunciation skills.
The many games and tests given in this book are quite interesting and innovative and children tend to enjoy them a lot. They take very less time, so it is like maximum benefit in minimum time.
It has many timer clock tests that you can give to your child by setting a time limit, which will tell them the progress they have made and how much more they have to learn. Each topic has many ten minute activities, like synonyms, words, their meanings and verb endings.
How this book helps in learning?
This book helps the children in learning new words every day. It has a Parents’ Notes Section in it that has answers to all the activities. It also explains all the basic mistakes that the children might make and has suggestions about how to avoid such errors.
- Best Suitable for Age: 7 to 11 years
- Our Rating: 4.7 out of 5
5. Banish Boring Words
This book is our best choice for 3-6 year old kids from all the given option of vocabulary books. It is a must have book for every growing child. This book has amazing similar words or synonyms for regular words, such as good, nice, particular, etc. The book has various chapters that deal with the words on a particular topic.
This book can also become a best vocabulary book for young children as it is able to create an impression in a child’s mind that he will not be able to easily forget the words that he has learned through that book.
It helps the children find just the right similar word for any word they want. It, in turn, help improve their vocabulary.
How this book helps in learning?
The book helps the student in learning by giving them a chance to enlarge their vocabulary through its carefully arrange list of words in different columns. It also helps them with the various grammar topics, like Action Verbs.
- Best Suitable for Age: 3 to 6 years
- Our Rating: 4.8 out of 5
6. Blippi: First Words
It is a photographic board book based on the very famous YouTube sensation Blippi. He is an over-grown boy, who helps the children learn new words in a fun way. The book teaches the children the names of different things that they see each day.
Blippi makes understanding and remembering new words quite easy as it teaches them in an exciting way. He is such a favourite of children that the children will instantly remember whatever new word he teaches. Also, each word has a beautiful, colourful and bright image along with it.
How this book helps in learning?
This book helps young children in learning new words by describing every day things that are around them and they see every day. The book also help the kids learn the names of the various toys, clothing, colours, shapes, plants and animals. Also, the book has almost 60 words that are introduced to the children.
- Best Suitable for Age: 2 to 5 years
- Our Rating: 4.9 out of 5
7. Merriam-Webster Children’s Dictionary
This book is our best pick for the children who are above seven years of age. It is a children’s dictionary, which has more than 35,000 words with 3000 images explaining some of those words. It is a very good reference book for children to be used at both home as well as school.
All the entries given in the book have a proper definition, explanation regarding their spelling and ways to pronounce them. The book also has examples explaining how the relevant words can be used in a sentence.
How this book helps in learning?
This book helps the children in learning new words by way of many visual images. It is quite understandable and easily accessible. The book’s easy-to-read print help the young learners in remembering the words, quite easily.
- Best Suitable for Age: 7 to 12 years
- Our Rating: 4.9 out of 5
8. Daily Word Ladders
This book has more than 100 reproducible word study lesson plans, which lend a helping hand to the young children to boost their reading, speaking, phonic and vocabulary skills. After going through this book, the children will be able to achieve new levels in their speaking skills.
Activities such as climbing the ladders are given, in which clues are given on each step. The children have to read them and then rearrange the letters to make the correct words and reach the top while doing all this.
In this manner, the children will keep on improving their vocabulary skills and slowly and gradually become a master in the field.
How this book helps in learning?
The book helps the young teens in learning new words through the different fun-filled activities. It is an excellent source for developing speaking skills and improving the vocabulary skills of a child.
- Best Suitable for Age: 8 to 14 years
- Our Rating: 4.7 out of 5
9. 200 Must Know Sight Words Activity Workbook
This is an activity workbook. It has almost 200 sight words that a child should definitely know. In this book, the kids are able to learn and get to know new words. Space is given under each word for the kids to write, trace and practice.
The book has many fun and engaging activities for a child to learn from. The gradual increasing difficulty level of the book helps a child become smarter, as and when the book progresses. It also has a table of contents.
How this book helps in learning?
The book is a store house for learning new and common words for young kids. It teaches them the spelling of new words and helps them grow their knowledge of new words. It also acts as a great way to keep the children busy for a short period of time and help them learn new words too.
- Best Suitable for Age: 5 to 8 years
- Our Rating: 4.8 out of 5
10. Vocabulary Flashcards
Flashcards are a source that makes the process of learning quite easy and enjoyable. It makes the process of learning new words fun. The various cards can be used as games, where you can play with your child and help him learn new words, teach them their meanings and also ask them to make new sentences with them.
How this box helps in learning?
The box has words that are arranged in a synchronized order. All the word cards have their explanation, pronunciation and similar words written on them.
- Best Suitable for Age: 5 to 7 years
- Our Rating: 4.7 out of 5
10 Easy Tips to Build and Improve Your Child’s Vocabulary
For a child to become to the master of words, he/ she must improve his/ her vocabulary. So, here are ten quick and easy tips to do so:
- Talk in English: The more a child will hear new words, the more they will learn. So, to do that always talk and interact with your child in English.
- Read with your child: In order to improve your child’s word skills, try to read aloud books and stories with your child.
- Use name tags: Put name tags of things around the house. So, that the children keep on seeing them regularly and remember the names.
- Play game of words: Play different types of word games with your child, like I spy or scrabble. This will enhance your child’s word speaking skills.
- Write messages: Encourage the child to write small messages for their friends or family members. This will make them learn new words and practice them too.
- Use new words every day: Every day use new words that mean the same while speaking to the child, so that their knowledge increases and they are able to learn new words.
- Create a word ladder: Make a sticky note of a new word every day and paste it on a wall so that the children are able to read them and learn new words and revise the old ones.
- Word of the day: Give a new word to the child every day and tell them to use it as many times as they can while they speak.
- Play with words with your child: While talking with your child, tell them a new word and ask them to guess its meaning. Then, ask them to speak a word that is similar to the word given. Do all this in a fun and playful way.
- Pretend game: Play pretend game with your child and ask him to ask questions from their pretend friend and answer them too.
Generally, the best vocabulary books for kids are those that have a lot of images along with the words. This makes it easier for the kids to remember the words. It enhances not just their learning skills but also their observation skills.
These words are mostly those that are commonly used and tend to come up in our daily use and conversation. The best vocabulary book for children also tend to discuss many grammar topics, and have a list of many interesting and creative synonyms for regular boring words, like happy.
Inside: A great big list of fabulous picture books about words – fabulous for developing your child’s vocabulary through word play.
One of the greatest gifts we can give our children is a rich and extensive vocabulary. From the time they are born, we talk to them and introduce them to the world, identifying everything they see, touch, and do. And, of course, we read to them, which not only exposes them to the beauty and power of words, but also allows us to share in the warmth and intimacy of enjoying stories together.
The following literary treasures are delightful stories that sneak in advanced vocabulary in creative ways! Browse over the following titles and you’re sure to find a few that are just right for your child!
RELATED: 11 Brain Activating Word Games for Kids
For more information about the titles listed below we’ve included links to our favourite online bookstores, where you will find reviews and age recommendations for titles you are unfamiliar with (these are affiliate links).
The Word Collector by Peter H. Reynolds
Jerome is a word lover who collects words of all kinds – “short and sweet” and “two-syllable treats!” This book relays the magic and power of words and the idea that one can love and appreciate words! Readers just might be enticed to become word collectors, too.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Miss Alaneus and the Vocabulary Disaster by Debra Frasier
A humorous story about a girl named Sage who gets a little confused about the word “miscellaneous!” Her misunderstanding leads to an embarrassing moment, but with a little help, Sage avoids a disaster at the school Vocabulary Parade! Advanced vocabulary is woven into this funny story, one that has inspired teachers and schools across the globe to add Vocabulary Parades to their annual school event calendars!
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
The King Who Rained by Fred Gwynne
The title of this one is a vocabulary lesson in itself! In this funny tale, a young girl envisions the things her daddy has told her about: a king who “rained” for forty years, roads that have “forks,” and a “mole” on his nose. Homonyms and idioms have never been so much fun! This is just one of author Fred Gwynne’s humorous and educational “play-on-words” stories.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Rhyme Crime by Jon Burgerman
Once upon a time, a thief committed a crime. Everything he stole was replaced with a RHYME! Hammy’s brand new hat was swapped for a cat! Arney’s comfy chair was switched for a bear! Packed with the silliest of rhymes and wordplay, this hilarious interactive tale will have the youngest readers in fits of giggles! But, can YOU solve the mysterious ending?!!
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Take Away the A by Michael Escoffier
A word totally transforms if you take away just one letter – without the A, the beast is best and without the W the witch has an itch! A fun, totally irreverent and very clever alphabetic exploration of how letters form words to communicate ideas, with clever, comical illustrations to match.
Available: The Book Depository
Lexie the Word Wrangler by Rebecca Van Slyke
Lexie is the best wrangler west of the Mississippi—the best WORD wrangler, that is! Always creative and sometimes silly wordplay pairs perfectly with lively illustrations to engage children with clever celebration of words and their meanings. Includes fun with compound words, anagrams, word chains, puns and misspelling!
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Max’s Words by Kate Banks
Max’s brother Benjamin collects stamps; his brother Karl collect coins. Max wants to collect something too and he decides to collect words. Benjamin brags that he has one thousand stamps. Karl is just a few coins short of five hundred. But a thousand stamps is really just a bunch of stamps, and a lot of coins is only a heap of money. A pile of words, however, can be so much more because a pile of words can make a story!
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Stegothesaurus by Bridget Heos
Stegothesaurus is a word-loving dinosaur who can’t keep himself from spouting big words. When his brothers describe a mountain as big, Stegothesaurus calls it gargantuan, gigantic, and Goliath. Stegothesaurus’ brothers do not share his love of language, so when he meets a word-loving allothesaurus, he feels he’s found a kindred spirit. However, the allothesaurus might not be the true friend Stegothesaurus dreamed of!
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
The Weighty Word Book by Paul Levitt
A collection of 26 short stories, one for each letter of the alphabet, this book uses clever plots with “punch-line” endings to make difficult words understandable, pronounceable, and memorable for kids as young as 9 or 10. For example, a circus manager searching for new talent finds a skillful ice-skating hippo named Cora. He declares, “Boy, can that Cora skate!” (the word coruscate means “brilliant or showy in technique or style”). Teachers and parents will appreciate the use of puns, mnemonics, and tips for pronunciation. The sequel Weighty Words, Too delivers more of the same!
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
RELATED: Check out our collection of Alphabet Books that teach much more than the ABCs.
The Traveling Dustball by Judith Henderson
While sweeping the floor, Davey and his dog Abigail must deal with an irksome dustball. Suddenly, they are carried off by the wind and into several magical journeys, each one featuring some hefty words. In their travels to countries all over the world, they see one phenomenon after another. Like its predecessor, The Missing Donut, this second book in the series features a Sprinkle Fairy and her helpers, who pop in on each page to sneak in big words.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter
Selig’s friends make fun of his word-collecting hobby and his parents worry about his future. But he finds a purpose for his word collection, one that helps and inspires others. A Parents’ Choice Gold Award winner, this book weaves wonderful words such as periphery and tantalizing into a beautiful tale about being true to yourself and finding joy and purpose in your passions.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Thesaurus Rex by Laya Steinberg
Thesaurus Rex has an irresistible way with words, encouraging young children to explore action-verb and noun synonyms through his playful and energetic adventures across the pages. The fun word romp incorporates alliteration, rhyme and repetition, well supported by the bright, colourful illustrations.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Fancy Nancy by Jane O’Connor
Nancy is a young girl who loves everything fancy including the use of fancy words! In this story, the first in a series of books, we meet Nancy, who loves to write her name using a pen with a plume and loves the color fuschia. As the words come up in the story, Nancy explains, “that’s a fancy word for ‘feather,’” or “that’s a fancy word for ‘purple.’” Each book in the Fancy Nancy series, which includes Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy and Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas, has a charming plot and message for children and makes learning “fancy” words fun and effortless.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Carmine, A Little More Red by Melissa Sweet
In this story, Carmine, a young girl also known as Little Red, rides her bike to Granny’s house to enjoy some alphabet soup. Although warned not to dilly dally, she’s distracted by the many exquisite wonders she sees along the way. With each turn of the page in this modern retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood,” a fascinating new word is woven into the story and since Carmine is also “a dreamy painter” who loves all shades of the color red, the illustrations are captivating!
Available: Amazon
As it can be a little tricky to find a copy of Carmine, A Little More Red, here is a Youtube retelling of the tale;
More Picture Books About Words
While the following titles are not shared as fictional stories, they are each equally fantastic children’s picture books for enriching vocabulary through wordplay and exploration.
Big Words for Little Geniuses by Susan and James Patterson
Why should your little genius’s first word be cat when it can be catawampus! Start your child off with an early love of reading with this fun book of big words that are wonderfully fun to say! With delightful illustrations, kids and adults alike will have fun trying to pronounce this tricky collection of words.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
101 Collective Nouns by Jennifer Cossins
An aurora of polar bears? A bouquet of hummingbirds? A smack of jellyfish? A wisdom of wombats? Equally delightful and informative, this beautifully illustrated journey through the animal kingdom is a delight for children of all ages.
Available: Amazon
The Lost Words by Jackie Morris & Robert Macfarlane
All over the world, words from nature are disappearing from children’s lives. The Lost Words stands against the disappearance of wild childhood. With acrostic spell-poems by award-winning writer Robert Macfarlane and hand-painted illustration by Jackie Morris, this enchanting book captures the irreplaceable magic of language and nature for all ages.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
What a Wonderful Word: A Collection of Untranslatables From Around the World by Nicola Edwards
Have you ever wished there was a word for friends who are like family to you? Did you know there was a special word for the distance a reindeer can travel before needing the toilet? Or for when you search for something in the water using only your feet? This hand-picked collection of untranslatable worlds from all over the world celebrates the magic of language and the fascinating cultures they descend from.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
My Epic Life Word Book: 1000 Words to Live By by Mrs Wordsmith
This is not your average dictionary. It is a dictionary, but it’s also a handbook for any child who wants to live a truly epic life. From emotions to math, food to philosophy, making a big mucky mess to cleaning up, this dictionary gives children the words they need to express themselves in every part of life.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
In a Word: 750 Words and Their Fascinating Stories and Origins by Rosalie Baker
Organized into 16 chapters with catchy titles such as ‘Military Madness,’ ‘Glorious Gizmos & Great Grub,’ and ‘Exceptional Expressions,’ In a Word offers historical context and origins of 750 interesting words and phrases.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Pun and Games: Jokes, Riddles, Daffynitions, Tairy Fales, Rhymes and More Word Play for Kids by Richard Lederer
Explore the wacky world of wordplay with puns, spoonerisms, games of word substitution, and much more.
Available: Amazon | The Book Depository
Up next:
Up next: Check out our collection of online word games for kids or grab a copy of our Spin It! Spelling Game to use with any word list.
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.
Wordplay makes kids love language, it inspires writing and helps kids learn new vocabulary. Celebrate words and wordplay with children by reading these playful picture books.
As children develop language, wordplay develops naturally and early. Think of ways little children play with language — it might be rhymes or silly languages, or trying to figure out words based on background knowledge. This is why young children get tenses and plurals wrong — they’re usually applying what they know, generalizing. Or just experimenting. That’s how language develops! And, when there are conversations with other speakers who are more advanced, their knowledge continues to increase. (Vygotsky’s Zones of Proximal Development!)
Just last week I couldn’t figure out the plural of caboose. I mean, is it cabooi like cactus is cacti or cabooses like mooses? Kids do this all the time, and it’s so important to language development!
But, authors use made-up words all the time! When you’re reading, see if you can find the author’s made-up words and guess why the authors invented those words.
Then, invent new words by combining words together. I still can’t believe my idea of a snoff hasn’t caught on! A snoff is a sneeze + cough because a cougeeze doesn’t sounds as funny so hence, we need snoff. Right?
Or try combining two animals to create a new one. So a zebra + a lamb = a zamb? Then, illustrate it.
Maybe you’ve found there’s no word for something you want to name so why not invent the word? Remembers, authors do it all the time!
But first, develop a child’s love for words and wordplay with these fantastic picture books.
My Pet Feet by Josh Funk, illustrated by Billy Yong
Darling and creative, this playful wordplay adventure hits all the right letters, and you’ll laugh your way through it. A little girl wakes up to a world without the letter R — and sees that her FERRET Doodles has turned into FEET! How can she save him? As she races around town, she discovers all the problems without the letter R — bread becomes bead, friend becomes fiend, crows become cows. Doodles leads the girl towards a pirate ship where they discover all the stolen all the Rs. She returns the Rs to Doodles and repairs the town. But just as she’s about to sleep, she realizes something else is missing…
P is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever by Raj Haldar and Chris Carpenter, illustrated by Maria Beddia
You will LOVE this book — a top choice on this list!! Get your kids, sit by the fire, and prepare to laugh your way through the wackiest alphabet book you’ll ever read. Because in this book, “A is for Aisle” and “H is for Heir“. Below each letter and illustration is a sentence describing each word such as, “M is for Mnemonic. // But now Mr. M. can’t remember why.” Isn’t this a delightful, hilarious treat for word enthusiasts of all ages?
Hornswoggled! by Josh Crute, illustrated by Jenn Harney
Wordsmiths are going to love this hilarious story about a thief stealing from the forest animals! The skunk’s thinking cap is gone and replaced with pie. (They’ve been skunked!) The rooster’s speech is missing–what poppycock! All the animals have been hornswoggled! Can they find the thief? Yes! And as they search, these vocabulary words (that are explained in little note cards in the illustrations) will stick with readers because they’re embedded in a delightfully silly and memorable story!
Theo Thesaurus The Dinosaur Who Loved by Big Words by Shelli R. Johannes, illustrated by Mike Moran
You don’t have to be a word-loving dinosaur to love this darling word-loving dinosaur’s story about trying to fit in. Theo eagerly shares his favorite words with his classmates, who seem more confused than accepting. Theo feels lonely and misunderstood. Especially when it seems like no one is coming to his birthday party. When they do, his new friends show Theo that they accept who he is.
Stegothesaurus by Bridget Heos, illustrated by T.L. McBeth
This stegothesaurus was different from his stegosaurus brothers– he knows a lot of words and uses them to describe the world. When he meets an allosaurus who was an allothesaurus, at first it seems like they are meant to be friends. Until the Allothesaurus reveals how she learned so many words. YIKES! I’m so impressed with this clever story about a word-loving dino that has the cutest illustrations EVER!
Flibbertigibbety Words: Young Shakespeare Chases Inspiration by Donna Guthrie, illustrated by Asa Gilland
Words fly into William’s window one day, but when he tries to catch them, the words run away. William chases the words throughout London, passing things like the king’s carriage and three women stirring a boiling pot, with phrases from Shakespeare’s plays. Luckily, a generous peddler helps William catch his words with a pen and paper. Now he asks the words to stay with him, and they do, telling of “leaky ships and far-off lands, kings and witches, roses and love letters.“ It’s a playful, fun introduction to Shakespeare and a love of language.
Lexie’s a word wrangler, a cowgirl who mixes up fresh words each morning like corn and bread to make cornbread or turn an annoying pest into good pets. But someone is stealing letters and words from her ranch. Instead of a rainbow, she only sees a bow. Will she catch the sneaky word rustler? A thoroughly delightful adventure!
Calvin Gets the Last Word by Margo Sorenson, illustrated by Mike Deas
The DICTIONARY (!) narrator is very proud of Calvin, a boy who loves words. In this story, Calvin is looking for the right word to describe his older brother. From the breakfast table to the classroom and back home again, Calvin encounters new words like subterfuge, mayhem, and revenge but none adequately works for his brother. It’s quite a full day, and the dictionary narrator is exhausted by the time Calvin goes to bed — until Calvin gets inspired by PRANK and the bond of FAMILY. A sweet sibling and word-lovers story.
After some words escape from the Dictionary, it’s a romp through grammar and wordplay. Homophones, palindromes, rhyming words, anagrams, and more strut their stuff through the book’s pages until they’re called back inside the dictionary.
What a Wonderful Word: A Collection of Untranslatable Words From Around the World by Nicola Edwards, illustrated by Luisa Uribe
Budding wordsmiths will love reading these unique words that don’t translate into other languages. Words like the Icelandic “gluggavedur” which means “window weather”, “weather that looks beautiful while you’re inside, but is much to cold when you step outside.” I especially love the Japanese word “nakama” which means “friends who are like family”. Each word is defined and illustrated with text that explains further context and meaning.
Get inspired by this book about a boy named Jerome who loves words so much that he collects them! As he collects, Jerome notices the beauty of pairing words unexpectedly. Then, he realizes that he must share the words with the whole world. Use this beautiful book to inspire your own word collections. Added to: Mentor Texts for Word Choice
The Book Tree by Paul Czajak, illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh
You’ll love this allegory that shows the power of words as well as the power of one person’s actions. Arlo loves books — he starts a book by just breathing it in. “Beginnings were always the best part. // They smelled as if anything were possible.” Unfortunately, the Mayor orders the town’s books destroyed. As time goes on, Arlo notices some unexpected consequences of no books. Like without storytime there is no nap time. Without cookbooks, the restaurants serve only cereal. Without plays, the actors have nothing to act out in the theater. But even with his sadness, Arlo realizes that he can write his own words into stories. His stories help a single buried page of words to grow into a tree that blooms books. The people began enjoying books again and the town flourishes.
It’s hilarious and impressive to read a mystery adventure written in alliterative sentences. Betty has enlisted the help of the police to solve the crime of who burgled her bakery. And you’ll never believe who did it!! Sure to be a new read-aloud favorite, especially for teachers to use in writing workshop.
The Keeper of Wild Words by Brooke Smith, illustrated by Madeline Kloepper
Brook’s friend, Mimi, is a writer who asks Brook to help her keep the words from disappearing. The two wander into the world where the wild words are waiting, ready to see and notice everything around them. As they walk through nature, they notice silver minnows swimming, bushels of sweet, fresh, tangy mint, and a green-velvet head, bright-yellow beak Drake lifting off. Special words are featured in colorful, bigger sized type, so kids notice the many rich nature words in the story.
You don’t have to be a dog or wordplay lover to enjoy this fun book that gives you all lots of dog-ish expressions with photos of the cutest dogs EVER. “Working like a dog. / Raining Cats and Dogs. / Dog and Pony Show.” Each page is framable because these photographs are stunning! Added to Favorite Dog Books for Kids.
In this simple graphic novel picture book, a teacher helps her students learn about compound words. The kids excitedly think of lots of compound words even at home.
The Longest Letsgoboy by Derick Wilder, illustrated by Catria Chien
Heartbreaking and beautiful with transcendent illustrations, this is a beautiful book for anyone who has a dog or who has lost a dog. An old dog walks with his Little one last time through nature, speaking to us in a playful dog-speak style. “She gives me a happyface. I wigglewag…We reach a bend in the gurgleburble, where hornheads and stripetails often visit, and sipslurp cool sweetness.” Later, when Little sleeps, the dog slowsteps to the softgreen, circles twice, and then hears his last letsgoboy. He closes his eyes and is lifted to a place where he’s young again. There, he watches Little as she grieves and eventually welcomes a new “awwwpuppy”.
E-mergency by Tom Lichtenheld, illustrated by Ezra Fields-Meyer
This punny wordplay picture book is hilarious! When E takes a tumble down the stairs, in order for E to heal, everyone must stop using the letter E in all their words. O (who is so well-rounded) takes her place making this book hilarious and quite challenging to read out loud! AftOr all, wO usO thO lOttOr a lot! But, E doesn’t heal. Maybe someone still using the letter E? Like THE NARRATOR!?
Take Away the A by Michael Escoffier, illustrated by Kris Di Giacomo
What happens when you remove the letter A? Well, beast becomes best. How about the letter D? Dice becomes ice. Super funny wordplay with an unexpected plot!
When a head cold results in a hilarious and embarrassing misunderstanding of words, readers experience the fun of language, especially synonyms.
The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter, illustrated by Giselle Potter
This beautiful picture book swells, sparkles, and percolates with Selig’s (also called Wordsworth’s) passion for words. “You too may find yourself lucky if, one day, while you are thinking or writing or simply speaking, the perfect word just seems to come to you. If so, you’ll know that Selig is near.”
Alphabetter by Linda Ragsdale, illustrated by Martina Hogan
You’ll love this playful alphabet picture book full of positive, fun invented words that are combinations of other words. What will you find on the C page? How about choolo (choose + love) and charvelous (charming + marvelous). Sure to inspire many playful inventions of your own as well as new additions to your everyday vocabulary.
This biographical story is an important piece of American history that kids should know — the history of the Webster dictionary. The narrative includes “edits” from Noah Webster himself which make this lively story even more interesting. The illustrations are perfect — in style and color. Bravo for organizing words, Mr. Webster!
Ann and Nan are Anagrams: A Mixed-Up Word Dilemma by Mark Shulman & Adam McCauley
Anagrams are words that when mixed up spell different words or phrases using all the letters. The authors make it easy to tell which are anagrams by putting the anagrams in similar fonts and telling the story of a mixed-up word world. Don’t you think this would be a fantastic book for an elementary classroom?
“Bring me to your AUNT. She’s A NUT.”
“Poor Grandma! What a VILE, EVIL way to LIVE.”
The Dictionary of Difficult Words by Jane Solomon, illustrated by Louise Lockhart
Want a mesmerizing wordplay book that is even better than a word-a-day calendar? This oversized dictionary contains the coolest selection of 400 words that kids will love to learn beginning with abecedarian (someone who is learning the alphabet) continuing to Zeppelin. Each letter gives readers about 15 new words to learn. This includes the word, pronunciation, part of speech, and definition. You’ll find haberdashery, ichthyologist, luddite and mugwump, mulligrubs, mumpsimus, and mishpocha. Read one of these words (or more) every day. Then try to use it at least a few times in a sentence. It won’t be too onerous, and you won’t be ramfeezled; in fact, learning new words might just be a salubrious experience because you’ll soon become a sesquipedalian.
You Love Ewe by Cece Bell
If you love words, wordplay, and silliness, this will be your new favorite picture book! An enthusiastic and loveable but oblivious donkey misunderstands what Yam is telling him about Ewe and thing Yam is talking about him. (You, in this case.) Eventually, Yam explains about homonyms, but those make Donkey mixed up, too. “Hummanums? I thought they was called critters!” I LOVE this book!
Start Your Own Word Collections
There are multiple ways to begin your own collections. Find a special container such as an empty jar like you see above.
Cut out words you LOVE in magazines.
Write down words that INTEREST you on note cards.
Be on the lookout for UNUSUAL words in signs. Take photos.
Use sticky notes to write down FAVORITE and WONDERFUL words in the stories you read — picture books or chapter books.
Keep organized with a notebook or container.
Use Your Wonderful Words
Make up silly words of your own! Take two words and combine them together.
Write found poetry using your new words.
Play these five favorite wordplay games!
What are your favorite things to do with words?
KEEP READING
Found Poetry
Picture Books About Libraries and Librarians
Daily Poetry for Kids
Absurd Words: Vocabulary Words for Kids
3 Engrossing Word Games For Kids
Melissa Taylor, MA, is the creator of Imagination Soup. She’s a mother, teacher, author, and freelance writer. She writes Imagination Soup and freelances for publications online and in print, including Brightly for Penguin Random House, USA Today Health, Colorado Parent, and Parenting.
So many sight word books are available on the market for teaching emergent readers. Check out these tried and true sight word books and sets.
When kids first learn how to read, it’s important for them to learn sight words alongside phonics. Give kids these top sight word books to expand their knowledge!
FREE Sight Word Email Series
Sign up for the sight word email series filled with tips to get you started teaching sight words in the best ways, strategies for success, and FREE activities kids will love. Everything you need to build reading skills with sight words!
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Looking for some FREE printable word family books to use with your child at home or students in your classroom? This is where I have collected all the word family books from my beginning reading curriculum, Learn to Read (featuring short vowel word families).
*Look towards the bottom of this post for the image gallery of all our free word family books!
*This post contains affiliate links.
FREE Printable Word Family Books
In these books are simple and fun stories with a mostly predictable text structure. Not only will kids practice a particular short vowel word family with these, two beginning sight words are also featured for each book.
*Look towards the bottom of this post for the image gallery of all our free word family books!
Other activities are included in each word family book download, too! We’ve included our:
- free, printable puzzles for each word family – they’re simple to cut out and use to help learners read the word families
- NO PREP Rainbow Roll & Write activity for the two featured sight words from each book
- NO PREP activity called Roll, Read, & Find, which helps learners practice reading the word family words and the two new sight words from each book
Keep scrolling to get to the freebies.
Then, grab our Learn to Read bundle pack!
Assembling the Word Family Books
If you want to print just the books, make sure you only print those page numbers from the download. The books are designed to be printed front to back on cardstock and stapled with a long-armed stapler to get them ready for your learners.
*Keep scrolling down for the image gallery of all our free word family books!
Need further help with printing and assembling the books? Follow the steps in our tutorial!
Having trouble getting to all the word family books? This video may help!
FREE Word Family Books
Hover over each image so you can see the link icon. Click on the link icon to get to the post about each book. On each individual post, you can read about them and get the free download.
Get our Sight Word Activity Pages for ALL
the sight words in Learn to Read below!
You Might also like The Measured Mom’s FREE Phonics Books! See them all HERE.
Enjoy!
~Becky
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:
I created these books back in 2014, before I had done a deeper study of phonics and long before I received my training in Orton-Gillingham (a structured approach to teaching phonics).
I am currently working on a creating a full library of decodable stories. Find the newer decodable stories here.
These older books are still in the membership because many people still enjoy them, and they can be useful.
However, when the full set of decodable books with custom illustrations is complete, these older books will disappear. This is because the newer books are far superior; not only do they tell actual, interesting stories, but they also have a better way of introducing high frequency words and follow a superior scope and sequence.
How to assemble
Print the pages front to back, starting on page 2. (Page 1 is my Terms of Use – be sure not to print it or they will all be messed up!) I like to print on light or medium cardstock.
Each book will be two full sheets of paper, front to back. Cut on the horizontal center of each book. (I love our paper cutter! I’ve used it for years. A little pricey on Amazon, but you might be able to get it at Michaels with a coupon.)
Fit the pages together in their proper order.
Fold.
Staple on the fold with a long-armed stapler.
Click on each link to enter your email address and get the book emailed to you.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:
I created these books back in 2014, before I had done a deeper study of phonics and long before I received my training in Orton-Gillingham (a structured approach to teaching phonics).
I am currently working on a creating a full library of decodable stories. Find the newer decodable stories here.
These older books are still in the membership because many people still enjoy them, and they can be useful.
However, when the full set of decodable books with custom illustrations is complete, these older books will disappear. This is because the newer books are far superior; not only do they tell actual, interesting stories, but they also have a better way of introducing high frequency words and follow a superior scope and sequence.