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Language Arts Resources

There are probably more fillable gaps in anyone's language arts knowledge than any other area of study. Language is constantly evolving, changing its face and sometimes even its innards to accommodate the dictates of the Academy and society. Who can keep up with it all? who even has enough foundational knowledge to know what all those changes are?

Keeping up with all the trends isn't necessarily the point, though. The ultimate aim of all language arts instruction is communication: for the student to be capable of communicating, and able to be communicated to. As far as that is accomplished, language arts education has been successful; that doesn't mean there isn't always room for improvement.

It also doesn't mean that there aren't reference works you should keep around at all times. Everyone needs a good dictionary; when you encounter words you know, how else are you going to know what they mean? You could just head to the Internet, but there's so much misinformation there, having a hard copy of Webster's is a much safer (and more reliable) bet.

A compact but comprehensive thesaurus is also important. Here's a word of advice: don't overuse it. Roget's Thesaurus has lots of words you've never heard of, and while sometimes they turn out to be exactly the word you're looking for, it's not a good idea to throw million dollar words into your writing if you're unfamiliar with them.

The two best uses for a thesaurus: using it to remember a word you already know, or scanning it to build your vocabulary when you aren't writing. A good cook doesn't use spices she's never heard of just to make food interesting, and a good writer doesn't throw around strange verbiage just to make people think he's smart, or because he's already overused a simpler term.

Much of what you'll find here is designed to help with spelling, expand vocabulary, or assist writing. Everyone has particular strengths and weaknesses, and you'll have to ultimately decide what your students (or you) need. For specific elements of the language arts (grammar, rhetoric, phonics, etc.) take a look at our subject-specific resource sections; the books here are pretty broad and reference-oriented.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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1001 Commonly Misspelled Words
by Robert Magnan & Mary Lou Santovec
from McGraw-Hill
for 10th-Adult
in Writing Reference (Location: WRI-REF)
$15.00
501 English Verbs
by Thomas R. Beyer, Jr., Ph.D.
2nd edition from Barron's Educational Series, Inc.
for 9th-Adult
in Grammar Reference (Location: GRA-REF)
$18.99
Alphabet Makers
by Hyatt Moore
from Wycliffe Bible Translators
for 8th-Adult
in History of Books & Language (Location: HISV-BOOK)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
American Dictionary of the English Language
by Noah Webster
10th edition from Foundation for American Christian Education
for 7th-Adult
in Dictionaries (Location: REF-DIC)
$38.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage Children's Dictionary
from Houghton Mifflin
for Kindergarten-6th grade
in Dictionaries (Location: REF-DIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage Desk Dictionary
4th edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 7th-Adult
in Dictionaries (Location: REF-DIC)
$14.95
American Heritage Dictionary
by Houghton Mifflin Company
5th edition from Dell Publishing
for 7th-Adult
in Dictionaries (Location: REF-DIC)
$8.99
American Heritage High School Dictionary
Fourth Edition from Houghton Mifflin
for 9th-Adult
in Dictionaries (Location: REF-DIC)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
American Heritage Student Thesaurus
by Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries
Reprint from Houghton Mifflin
for 7th-12th grade
in Thesauruses (Location: REF-THES)
$18.95
Antonyms Wrap-Up Keys
from Learning Wrap-Ups
for 3rd-6th grade
in Grammar Reference (Location: GRA-REF)
Art of Fiction
by John Gardner
from Vintage Classics
for 9th-Adult
in Writing Reference (Location: WRI-REF)
$14.95 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Behind the Mask
by Ruth Heller
from PaperStar Books
for 1st-4th grade
in Grammar Picture Books (Location: GRA-PICTURE)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Blended Structure and Style in Composition
by James B. Webster
2nd edition from Institute for Excellence in Writing
Writing Curriculum for 2nd-12th grade
in IEW Teaching Writing: Structure & Style (Location: WRI-IEWTW)
$35.00
Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
by Jane Straus with Lester Kaufman & Tom Stern
11th edition from Jossey-Bass
for 6th-Adult
in Grammar Reference (Location: GRA-REF)
$16.95 $12.00 (2 in stock)
Bugaboo Review
by Sue Sommer
1st edition from New World Library
for 7th-12th grade
in Grammar Reference (Location: GRA-REF)
$16.00
Cache of Jewels
by Ruth Heller
from PaperStar Books
for 1st-4th grade
in Grammar Picture Books (Location: GRA-PICTURE)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Caught'ya Again!
by Jane Bell Kiester
1st edition from Maupin House Publishing
for Kindergarten-12th grade
in Grammar Reference (Location: GRA-REF)
Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint
Write Great Fiction
by Nancy Kress
from Writer's Digest
for 7th-12th grade
in Writing Reference (Location: WRI-REF)
Children's First Encyclopedia
by Neil Morris
from Backpack Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Encyclopedias (Location: REF-ENC)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Children's Illustrated Dictionary
from Parragon Publishing
for 4th-7th grade
in Dictionaries (Location: REF-DIC)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Chocolate Moose for Dinner
by Fred Gwynne
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.64 $4.00 (1 in stock)
Chortling Bard
by Jane Bell Kiester
from Maupin House Publishing
for 9th-12th grade
in Clearance: Language Arts (Location: ZCLE-LAN)
Complete Rhyming Dictionary
from Dell Publishing
for 1st-Adult
in Dictionaries (Location: REF-DIC)
$7.99
Comprehensive Composition
by Kathryn Stout
from Design-A-Study
Writing Curriculum for Kindergarten-12th grade
in Design-A-Study (Location: HSR-DAS)
$14.00
Concise Roget's International Thesaurus
by Barbara Ann Kipfer
7th edition from HarperTrophy
for 7th-12th grade
in Thesauruses (Location: REF-THES)
$7.99
Consolidated Wagster's Unexpurgated Dictionary of Humor and Wit
from Peter Pauper Press
for 8th-Adult
in Clearance: General Interest (Location: ZCLE-GEN)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Creative Writer Level 2
by Boris Fishman
from Well-Trained Mind Press
for 5th-8th grade
in Creative Writer (Location: WRI-CREATE)
$16.95
Description & Setting
Write Great Fiction
by Ron Rozelle
from Writer's Digest
for 7th-12th grade
in Writing Reference (Location: WRI-REF)
Dictionary of Symbols
by J. E. Cirlot
from Philosophical Library, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
DK Children's Illustrated Dictionary
by John McIlwain
from DK Publishing
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Dictionaries (Location: REF-DIC)
$9.00 (2 in stock)
DK First Encyclopedia
by Anita Ganeri & Chris Oxlade
from DK Publishing
for 1st-3rd grade
in Encyclopedias (Location: REF-ENC)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
DK Ultimate Visual Dictionary
from DK Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
in Dictionaries (Location: REF-DIC)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Dr. Seuss's ABC
by Dr. Seuss
Book Club from Random House Books for Young Readers
for Nursery-1st grade
in Beginner Books (Location: EAR-BB)
$2.40 (1 in stock)
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
by Lynne Truss
from Gotham Books
Grammar Reference for 9th-Adult
in Writing Reference (Location: WRI-REF)
$15.00
Elements of Style
by William Strunk & E. B. White
4th edition from Allyn and Bacon
Writing Handbook for 9th-12th grade
in Writing Reference (Location: WRI-REF)
$9.95
Elements of Style
by E. B. White, Jr. William Strunk
3rd edition from Macmillan
for 9th-12th grade
in Writing Reference (Location: WRI-REF)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Elements of Style (Illustrated)
by E.B. White, William Strunk Jr.
for 7th-Adult
in Writing Reference (Location: WRI-REF)
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters
by Mark Dunn
Reprint from Anchor Books
for 8th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$12.71
Encyclopedia of Music
by Max Wade-Matthews and Wendy Thompson
1st ed from Hermes House
for 4th-12th grade
in Music Education & Reference (Location: ELE-MUSREF)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
English Grammar Flipper
from Christopher Lee Publications
for 6th-Adult
Evaluating Writing
Writing Strands
by Dave Marks
from National Writing Institute
Writing Curriculum for Preschool-12th grade
in Old Edition English (Location: ZCLE-LAN)
$14.00 $8.00 (2 in stock)
Everything You Need to Know About English Homework
by scholastic
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Clearance: Language Arts (Location: ZCLE-LAN)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Explore Language Series
by Ruth Heller
from PaperStar Books
for 1st-4th grade
in Grammar Picture Books (Location: GRA-PICTURE)
EyeLike Shapes
from Play Bac
for Preschool-2nd grade
$5.10 (1 in stock)
Fantastic! Wow! and Unreal!
by Ruth Heller
from PaperStar Books
for 1st-4th grade
in Grammar Picture Books (Location: GRA-PICTURE)
$8.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Figures of Speech
by Arthur Quinn
from Hermagoras Press
for 9th-12th grade
in Grammar Reference (Location: GRA-REF)
First Dictionary
from Golden Books
for 2nd-4th grade
in Dictionaries (Location: REF-DIC)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
French Grammar 1 Flipper
from Christopher Lee Publications
for 8th-12th grade
in French (Location: FL-FRE)
French Grammar 2 Flipper
from Christopher Lee Publications
for 9th-12th grade
in French (Location: FL-FRE)
$7.96
Games for Writing
by Peggy Kaye
1st edition from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Writing Reference (Location: WRI-REF)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
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