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Noah Webster: Weaver of Words
This picture book celebrates one of the most important patriots in post-Revolutionary times -- Noah Webster.
Most readers know Noah Webster for his dictionary masterpieces and his promotion of a living "American Language" that embraces words and idioms from all its immigrant peoples. But he was also the driving force behind universal education for all citizens, including slaves, females, and adult learners. Speaker of twenty languages, he developed the new country's curriculum, writing and publishing American literature, American history, and American geography. He published New York City's first daily newspaper. As editor, Webster conducted a study and linked disease with poor sanitation. He created the country's first insurance company, established America's first copyright law, and became America's first best-selling author.
Most readers know Noah Webster for his dictionary masterpieces and his promotion of a living "American Language" that embraces words and idioms from all its immigrant peoples. But he was also the driving force behind universal education for all citizens, including slaves, females, and adult learners. Speaker of twenty languages, he developed the new country's curriculum, writing and publishing American literature, American history, and American geography. He published New York City's first daily newspaper. As editor, Webster conducted a study and linked disease with poor sanitation. He created the country's first insurance company, established America's first copyright law, and became America's first best-selling author.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2009
51 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 3, 2020
This textually rich picture-book biography of the immensely influential Noah Webster - author, educator, reformer, Patriot soldier, and lexicographer extraordinaire - is chock-full of fascinating information and historical details. I'm ashamed to say that I knew very little about Webster, whose 1828 dictionary (which would go on to become the
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary
) was the first truly comprehensive dictionary of American English, and was considered a marvel of its time, by lexicographers from many nations (including England). His time as student and soldier, his campaigns for better public education, and his role in producing the first children's primers that centered on American history and geography (children had hitherto learned from primers that used English place-names and events), were all also unknown to me.
Informative and engaging, Noah Webster: Weaver of Words is a fabulous book about a fascinating figure in American history and letters, one who deserves to be better known! The accompanying oil artwork has a distinctly folkloric quality to it, one that suits the broad-minded, democratic spirit of its subject matter. If you've ever wondered (or if you haven't) why Americans spell certain words differently than their Anglophone cousins the world over - Webster believed that English lexicographers deliberately kept more abstruse spelling conventions, and left out certain kinds of vocabulary (words that 'common' people might use) in order to pander to the upper classes, and keep literacy as the domain of the privileged - then this book will clarify the matter. Highly recommended to young readers with an interest in American history, educational reform, and the English used in America.
Informative and engaging, Noah Webster: Weaver of Words is a fabulous book about a fascinating figure in American history and letters, one who deserves to be better known! The accompanying oil artwork has a distinctly folkloric quality to it, one that suits the broad-minded, democratic spirit of its subject matter. If you've ever wondered (or if you haven't) why Americans spell certain words differently than their Anglophone cousins the world over - Webster believed that English lexicographers deliberately kept more abstruse spelling conventions, and left out certain kinds of vocabulary (words that 'common' people might use) in order to pander to the upper classes, and keep literacy as the domain of the privileged - then this book will clarify the matter. Highly recommended to young readers with an interest in American history, educational reform, and the English used in America.
November 20, 2019
For an illustrated book it is quite word heavy, but is appropriate for the upper elementary/middle school intended audience. The style of writing is somewhere in between a story and a factual biography. Not only does it tell of Webster’s love of learning and dictionary writing, but it recounts his commitment to his family, political involvement, advocating for all to read and write, creation of the first copyright law, and creation of the first insurance company. The illustrations in Shea’s book are very lifelike and realistic. They match the matter of fact style of writing and vividly display events in his life as they would have occurred. Much of it is about his studies, but it also includes his personal life and beliefs including his faith in God as the creator of the world. I was blown away to learn that over 70 million copies of Webster’s blue-back speller was sold and at one time, more of them were being sold than Bibles. Noah Webster, Weaver of Words has a very well- written text that is both engaging and distinctive. Because of Webster’s significant contributions to many facets of his time, this book would be great to use in a history lesson about America during the American Revolution.
October 12, 2017
Just like the Roget book, I am amazed that any person could like words as much as they both do. I appreciate that Webster was progressive for his time and thought that education was for everyone. It amazes me to see how much language has changed since his first dictionary. This book had beautiful illustrations that perfectly matched the story.
July 11, 2017
Outstanding biography of the man who recorded, unified and expanded the American language and improved American education at the same time.
July 19, 2022
I just think books for children should be so much more interesting. This has interesting facts for sure, but reads a little like an encyclopedia.
March 25, 2024
A quick and easy overview. I would have liked more detail but it's fine for a short look into Webster's life and motivation for American History.
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April 20, 2012Noah Webster: Weaver of Words is a story of Noah Webster and his achievements in life. Being that it is an informational genre, there is a lot of information on Noah Webster's life. Through the book, we learn that Noah Webster was not just the man to write the dictionary, but so much more.
This book is definitely accurate and authentic in conveying factual, documented material. Being that the book is about Noah Webster, everyone knows he wrote the dictionary. There's the proof. As for his other achievements, it's a part of history and is known. The information is presented in an organized way through the way that Pegi Deitz Shea writes Noah Webster's life in a chronological order. By doing this, it's like reading an event based type of story. I would say the format and design of the book is probably not very appealing to children. It has a lot of words rather than pictures, to me. I think there are definitely a good amount of pictures, but the book is a little wordy. A lot of children do not like to read a whole lot on one page at a young age. However, it is appealing in the fact that there are pictures to go along with the text and little excerts in boxes to add extra information and organization of information. The writing style is clear. He's presenting basically a biography of Noah Webster in an enthusiastic way. The pictures and extra boxes of information show genuine interest in the topic.
I liked the book a lot. I never knew that Noah Webster was as brilliant as he was. I had known that he had written the dictionary, but he did so much more. The things he did for education really struck me, being that I am going to be a teacher for young children. You could use this book in the classroom, however I'm not sure I would use it for children. It is very informative though and could be used in an english class when talking about the dictionary and words, or in a history lesson to talk about the time period he lived in and such.
This book is definitely accurate and authentic in conveying factual, documented material. Being that the book is about Noah Webster, everyone knows he wrote the dictionary. There's the proof. As for his other achievements, it's a part of history and is known. The information is presented in an organized way through the way that Pegi Deitz Shea writes Noah Webster's life in a chronological order. By doing this, it's like reading an event based type of story. I would say the format and design of the book is probably not very appealing to children. It has a lot of words rather than pictures, to me. I think there are definitely a good amount of pictures, but the book is a little wordy. A lot of children do not like to read a whole lot on one page at a young age. However, it is appealing in the fact that there are pictures to go along with the text and little excerts in boxes to add extra information and organization of information. The writing style is clear. He's presenting basically a biography of Noah Webster in an enthusiastic way. The pictures and extra boxes of information show genuine interest in the topic.
I liked the book a lot. I never knew that Noah Webster was as brilliant as he was. I had known that he had written the dictionary, but he did so much more. The things he did for education really struck me, being that I am going to be a teacher for young children. You could use this book in the classroom, however I'm not sure I would use it for children. It is very informative though and could be used in an english class when talking about the dictionary and words, or in a history lesson to talk about the time period he lived in and such.
April 21, 2012
Noah Webster by Pegi Deitz Shea is a childrens informational book. It is all about Noah Websters life and all his contributions he made to the world. The book is very accurate and authentic in conveying factual, documented material. All of the information is clearly factual. The information is presented very clear as well. It is in chronological order. It has headings for each new topic that come up next. This helps the reader understand the order that events took place in his life. There is also a chronological time line at the end of the book that can really help the young readers of any confusion they may have. The format and design is very appealing to children. Colorful illustrations fill its pages and look very realistic. The text goes around the illustrations which would be fun for children to read because its does not follow the typical book format. The authors writing style is clear and enthusiastic. She portrayed his life in a very easy way for young readers to understand. She used words they would understand made it into somewhat a story. I thought this was a great book. It presented the information is a great way for young readers to understand. I was very shocked while reading this book because I just thought Noah Webster was just famous for the dictionary but I found out that he wrote textbooks, taught spelling, and advocated for educational reform. I really liked to find out that he was an advocate for educational reform. This book has helped me grow professionally because I gained a great amount of knowledge about Noah Webster that I didn't know before that I can use in my classroom.
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May 27, 2013Written by P.D. Shea (2009) & ill. by M. Vachula. Honedale, PA: Calkins Creek. This is a biography about the creator of the Webster Dictionary in picture book form. It tells how he came to write the first American Dictionary. It also talked abou twhat he did for education and as a scholar & writing at all times with essarys and other published articles. The back pages is a great source of information with primary sources,further readings, websites, and loads of information about his life and colonies times in which he lived in. Illustrations are done in oil on a board. When I picked up this book I had to actually read it rather than just skim it. History has always been interesting to me and I learned something new when reading about his life. The book tells about how education was at that time and it was not much. And I did not realize how America came to have one national language which it explains about and how Webster was instrumental in bringing it about. It was fasanating to get a better understand of those times. I can see this book being a great mento book for the study of the thriteen colonies, education, language, and the development of books whihc are common to us today. It is also a good source to explain about primary sources which are available online for anyone. This is a great book for intermediate level and older kids. I loved it!
April 19, 2017
What an interesting person! I never realized what a huge and difficult task compiling a dictionary is until I read this. And to think he was one of the earliest compilers of an American English dictionary. I also had no idea how influential he was in shaping what is today's American English grammar, vocabulary, and spelling. He's the one who changed British spellings to American ones (eg. colour to color; plough to plow). And he did it all by hand--no typewriter or word processor!! But compiling the dictionary wasn't all he did. He was a soldier, he taught, he farmed, he studied law, he learned an amazing number of foreign languages, he wrote spellers and grammars and history and geography books for schoolchildren, he became involved in politics, he advocated for copyright laws, he edited a several newspapers and magazines, he founded the first American insurance company in Hartford, Connecticut--he even conducted the world's first study of the yellow fever epidemic. I don't know how he found time to do all of this and raise a family too. I really must read a lengthier biography about him. How fascinating! Wish I could have met him. I recommend this most highly as an intro to a brilliant and influential American patriot.
June 15, 2013
"Noah Webster: Weave of Words" by Pegi Shea is an intermediate book in the biographical non-fiction genre. It was nominated for the NCTE Orbis Pictus Award in 2010. The book is the life story of Noah Webster, who is mostly known for his lexicography skills in compiling a dictionary.
Here are some discussion questions to consider:
Remembering--What did Noah's father do to get Noah into Yale?
Understanding--What does the title mean by calling Noah a "weaver of words"?
Applying--What was Noah's motive for sharing his ideas with American leaders?
Analyzing--How would you compare or contrast education in Noah's time and today?
Evaluating--Do you agree with Noah that languages are living things? Why or why not?
Creating--What would you add to the dictionary to make it more useful to readers?
Here are some discussion questions to consider:
Remembering--What did Noah's father do to get Noah into Yale?
Understanding--What does the title mean by calling Noah a "weaver of words"?
Applying--What was Noah's motive for sharing his ideas with American leaders?
Analyzing--How would you compare or contrast education in Noah's time and today?
Evaluating--Do you agree with Noah that languages are living things? Why or why not?
Creating--What would you add to the dictionary to make it more useful to readers?
January 15, 2010
“Noah sought knowledge the way a sail seeks wind.” This excellent biography for young readers brings alive a renaissance man whose brilliant mind influenced American education, politics, publishing and book promotion…and, of course, gave us a truly American dictionary. The book is written conversationally with dozens of anecdotes that make its subject come alive. Kids will be amazed at Webster’s full and varied life, that he hand copied his 70,000-word masterpiece, was known as “the father of the American language” and “believed that languages are living things”.
July 20, 2010
Picture Book choice
A thorough history of a great American patriot. Noah Webster ranks along with Ben Franklin and Tom Jefferson as great American innovators, but its books like this - not typical social studies texts - that tell his story. Text heavy for upper elementary and middle school students, teachers are wise to read this too.
A thorough history of a great American patriot. Noah Webster ranks along with Ben Franklin and Tom Jefferson as great American innovators, but its books like this - not typical social studies texts - that tell his story. Text heavy for upper elementary and middle school students, teachers are wise to read this too.
June 15, 2015
As a children's biography this was a fine book, though it had nothing especially remarkable to recommend it. I did gain a broader understanding of Noah Webster and his work, though, and it is interesting to see what progressive educational ideas may have grown out of his intentionally progressive work in education.
August 24, 2010
Although this is a picture book, there are a lot of words on each page--so it's more appropriate for older readers. The information is interesting and interestingly presented. I learned a lot! One of the features of the book is inset text that elaborates on some key ideas.
July 11, 2016
for early to upper elementary. wonderful summary of the history and person of noah webster, his significant role in shaping education and language in america. loved how the author wove noah's quotes throughout the book.
April 12, 2016
Outstanding biography, brings to light little known facts. End is a little sudden.
January 25, 2016
This a good story about the man who gave us the dictionary and many other things. It's a fast read, filled with illustrations and sidenotes.
December 22, 2010
Very well done. If you love words, you'll love this book. Good tie ins with 8th grade history & a nice timeline. Nice sidecars with additional period info.
June 18, 2012
Book on the inventor of the webster's dictionary
November 8, 2012
Nonfiction; illustrations.
January 21, 2013
long, better for older children. great endpaper with real images of Webster's writing. great additional resources in the back.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews