The American heritage dictionary of the English language (5th ed.). (2011). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Pages: 2112
Price: $51.05
ISBN: 978-0-547-04101-8
The 5th edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language received a starred review from Booklist and a positive review from Library Journal. The 5th edition of the dictionary has 10,000 new words compared to the 4th edition and over 4,000 color images. According to the Booklist starred review “additions include quad bike, fracking, podcast, spaghettification, flash mob, and fashionista.” The blue text for entries which contrast with the black text for the definitions and other information makes the dictionary easy to use. This will be helpful for easily assisting students, particularly English Language Learners, in finding the definitions that they need. The dictionary has a map for each country in the world with their major cities. This was a contributing factor to choosing the dictionary, since the library is sensitive to the international nature of the school and promotes geographical awareness.
Douglas, J. D., Tenney, M. C., & Silva, M. (2011). Zondervan illustrated Bible dictionary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Pages: xxii, 1571
Price: $34.04
ISBN: 978-0-310-22983-4
Published by the well-known Bible publisher Zondervan the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary received a started review from Booklist and was “recommended for church libraries, parochial schools, and, Christian theological libraries serving a conservative Christian audience” by Library Journal. The dictionary surveys all of the books of the Bible, and includes entries on well-known and obscure information related to the Bible. The full color pictures make the dictionary attractive and sidebars help make the information accessible. Its authority comes from biblical scholar Moisés Silva, who according to Booklist "was responsible for this update, which not only includes many full-color photos (approximately one for every two-page spread) but almost 1,800 entries not found in the earlier version." The dictionary is intended for a conservative Christian audience, which makes it the right choice for ICSB students looking for general information about the Bible and for working on their Bible assignments.
Compact Oxford Spanish dictionary: Spanish, English, English, Spanish. (2013). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pages: xxvi, 977
Price: $21.95
ISBN:978-0-19-966330-9
The Compact Oxford Spanish Dictionary comes from the highly regarded and authoritative Oxford University Press. The dictionary covers Spanish spoken in both Europe and Latin America which is important for international students studying Spanish in Europe, but one day may live in the U.S. or other parts of the world. According to the publisher it is “more than just a dictionary, this handy reference book also includes extensive sections on grammar, culture, and communication.” As Spanish is the only language that has been continuously taught at ICSB in the last seven years and with the intention of the school continuing the program it is important that the library has an up-to-day English-Spanish, Spanish-English dictionary in its collection.
Merriam-Webster's collegiate thesaurus (2nd ed.). (2010). Merriam-Webster.
Pages: 1,162
Price: $14.95
ISBN: 978-0-87779-269-7
The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Thesaurus provides easy access to synonyms, related words,near antonyms, and antonyms in alphabetical order. The second edition is revised and up-dated from the original edition which was published in 1977. It received a positive review from Choice and although they recommend that it be used by “lower-level undergraduates and above” it is still a good selection for the ICSB high school reference section since ICSB has an academic focus and several AP courses are offered.
World book encyclopedia 2015. (2014). Chicago: World Book.
Pages:14,000+ (22 volumes)
Price: $1,049.00 (information received directly from World Book)
ISBN: 978-0716601159
The World Book Encyclopedia is the only print encyclopedia currently available, which leads to it being the only choice for a library looking to add a print encyclopedia to its collection. Yet, the encyclopedia also has a strong editorial board, including professors from the University of Calgary, University of Nevada, and Michigan State University, which lends to its authority. The 2015 edition includes 22 volumes with “more than 25,000 photographs, maps, and illustrations” according to World Book’s website. Although, this may be the last set of encyclopedias purchased by the ICSB library, it is important that the 25 year old set of Encyclopedia Britannica be replaced by something current. It is a title that can be used by all grade levels, which gives more value for the money and will provide the students with physical volumes which will help them comprehend what an encyclopedia in a way that an electronic source cannot.
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