Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms

by Marvin Terban

Book Overview

If you think idioms are a "tough nut to crack," pick up the revised SCHOLASTIC DICTIONARY OF IDIOMS. Fun new design and more than 700 common American phrases, sayings, and expressions.

Cat got your tongue? Penny for your thoughts? Come again? Every day, idioms bring color to our speech. Since they don't really mean what they say, idioms can stump even the native English-speaker. Marvin Terban makes understanding idioms "as easy as pie" with...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0439770831
• ISBN13: 9780439770835
• Release Date: July 2006
• Publisher: Scholastic Reference
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.3" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Perfect for Creating a Love of Language!

I was hoping this would be a good resource book for our home library. I'm always looking for engaging books we might use over and over again as the kids grow up. I wasn't expecting my 9 year old son would pick this up and just start reading it for fun. It's an engaging layout that really helps to decode the quirky ways we communicate in idioms. Very helpful for building vocabulary and cultural awareness of common phrases that kids may or may not be commonly exposed to in the early years.

Great for kids with Aspergers

This book is amazing!! My son has Aspergers and what that meant for us was the he took everything he heard literally. For example, when someone said, "break a leg" to him before a choir concert he got very upset and asked me why his friend would want him to get hurt. He also had a hard time keeping up with conversation and didn't get why something was or wasn't funny. Once we found this book he was way more relaxed in social setting and with group conversations.

Excellent support for the bilingual classroom!

This is a great product which I use when teaching my 5th grade student's about idioms. It is very user friendly! I recommend this without reservation and suggest you also get the books: MORE PARTS and EVEN MORE PARTS to complement your classroom library.

3rd grade teacher & students LOVE it!

By third grade, most students can READ anything you put in front of them, but we sometimes forget that figurative language is something that clouds the comprehension of otherwise simple text. This book gives clear explanations of idioms found in everyday language and gives their origin (which is very interesting). My 3rd grade class uses this resource often to look up idioms they come across in their reading. But they also like to look through it just for fun! It's very user-friendly.

Crazy and Wild

This book's not your average Joe. It contains so many idioms it will make your head spin. That's a plus and a minus. It doesn't go into a ton of detail. But it fills the bill if you are teaching a class with it.

I LUV THIS BOOK!!!!

Back in around 97 or 98, I was crazy about these two guys in a movie and started setting up funny situations in a roleplay where one guy would use idioms and the other would take them all literally. I was sooo happy to find this book to use as an idiom reference!!! I tried a couple of other idiom books, but this one is by far the best! ^_^ So warm and friendly, and I luv the cartoon kids who host the thing :) I am totally hooked on this book! ^_^ Buy it, BUY IT!!!

Excellent book to aid kids understand grown-up talk!

My husband and I often unconsciously speak in idioms to our kids. Now, when we say things like "don't burn your bridges"; "I'm tickled pink"; or "snug as a bug in a rug", and the kids can find out what we are talking about!