Dictionary of Difficult Words: With More Than 400 Perplexing Words to Test Your Wits!, The

What is a bumbershoot? Or a moonbow? And what does it mean when someone absquatulates...? Find out all this and more in The Dictionary of Difficult Words.

Test your knowledge with more than 400 words to amaze, confuse, and inspire budding wordsmiths (and adults). All of the words featured in this book are difficult to spell, hard to say, and their meanings are obscure to most children (and most adults)! You can master them with the simple, easy-to-understand definitions and pronunciations written by lexicographer (yes, that's in there too!) Jane Solomon. Fun, colorful illustrations add whimsy to the pages.

Some jobbernowls say dictionaries are anachronistic, or even obsolete, but it's kenspeckle to real bibliophiles that those vociferous ninnyhammers are just metagrobolised by the plethora of portmanteaus, neologisms, and jargon they offer. Next time you find yourself wrangling with one of these ultracrepidarians, no need to imagineer a sockdolager: just show them this book.

This captivating dictionary celebrates the beauty of the English language for family trivia time spent around the printed page.

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**Jen's Staff Pick**

After watching the 1029 National Spelling Bee, I was in awe of how well the young contestants handled themselves under pressure and amazed at the words they were spelling that I as an adult have never heard of. I told my young son about this and suggested that we learn new vocabulary words together over the summer, which to my surprise he excitedly welcomed. I was about to open our household dictionary and randomly drop my finger on a word every morning, that is until I found this book! The Dictionary of Difficult Words is presented in a fun, simple format and unlike a big heavy dictionary, this book does not overwhelm the senses and my son even grabs it from the dinner table or looks through it during car rides.