Linguistics Books for Kids - Superlinguo master list
Over the years Iāve been keeping an eye on the much-neglected genre of linguistics books for young people. This post is an aggregate of links to all of those reviews.
Iāll update this post whenever I have a new book to review. If you know of any books about language for kids and teens that arenāt on this list, let me know!
A Little Book of Language, David Crystal
From one of the most prolific authors on the topic of the English language and linguistics. Incredibly sensible and also charming and engaging. This book has 40 short chapters of 3-4 pages, with many featuring a separate breakout with a related story or example.Ā
The Word Spy, Ursula Dubosarsky
We get brief dalliances into hieroglyphs and cuneiform as well as morse code and printing presses. There are half a dozen chapters on ways you can Ā play with English, and each is broken down into mini-sections that are Ā rarely more than a page or two long.
The Return of the Word Spy, Ursula Dubosarsky
The Word Spy loads her books full of fascinating facts about language and how it works. Theyāre my default recommendation for budding linguists.
If your language loving kid isnāt into factoid-based books then this is not only a lovely little tale but it manages to slip in some basic ideas about how words work.
Wicked Words, Terry Deary
Itās silly, rude and occasionally has a few too many exclamation marks, if I had a time machine I would send it back in time to myself when I was in late primary school.Ā
Grammar: Write Here, Write Now (Basher Basics)
Tthe overall effect is somewhat like hallucinating while reading a reference grammar.
Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn
Donāt even get this one for your kids, get it for yourself - and if you do just have a word-ish teenager around to pass it on to theyāll love it too.
The Dictionary of Difficult Words, Jane Solomon & Louise Lockhart
The definitions of even the most fiendish words are given in language accessible to a child and rarely longer than twenty words. Although Iām not normally one for wanton book destruction, I will say that my overwhelming compulsion to turn the letter pages into a giant wall alphabet speaks to how adorable the illustrations are.