The Firefly Junior Visual Dictionary
At first glance, it's hard to tell the intended audience for this dictionary because it could be used by either children or adults. Closer inspection reveals that it is designed for younger users; the section on the human body has illustrations of people wearing bathing suits, and there is nothing on the reproductive system.Items are arranged under 22 broad topics such as "Astronomy," "Music," and "Transportation." These color-coded sections are further divided; for example, "Geography" has subsections on continents, cartography, and maps. Each subsection begins with a brief paragraph that orients the user to the topic and one or two pages of labeled illustrations. The scale of the illustrations varies so that the iguana looks larger than either the alligator or crocodile on the same page. The point size on the labels is quite small, and there is no pronunciation guide for terms that might not be familiar. Terms are indexed alphabetically.This volume  is a  smaller version of the 35,000-term I^ Firefly Visual Dictionary(2000). There are 12,000 terms and 2,000 illustrations for everyday objects like suitcases, airplanes, and different kinds of gloves. A good visual dictionary has a place on the ready-reference shelf, and elementary and school libraries, as well as public libraries that serve bilingual populations, will find  the I^ Firefly Juniordictionary a  useful addition to their collections.Dona HelmerCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved