All of us are familiar with Dictionary; a book listing thousands of words with meanings or other linguistic items in a particular category or subject with specialised information about them. We have a variety of dictionaries such as English to English and English to Urdu. But the Topic-to-Topic Dictionary compiled by Stephen Curtis, a former university teacher of English language and literature, is a dictionary with a new style. It is not only a dictionary but also a kind of book for active learning for young learners from six to 15 years of age; interested in studying English as a first or foreign language.

Topic-by-Topic Dictionary contains about 4,000 headwords and phrases categorised into 101 units with 20 major themes. Extra information like related words, words that go together synonyms and antonyms, is given in the form of coloured boxes and short passages. The pronunciation scheme is provided to familiarise the learners with the sounds of the words in a more eloquent way. Moreover, language in action is arranged in the form of a passage in order to help understand the key words more clearly. More than 400 beautiful and colourful illustrations add to its user-friendliness.

The contents of the book cover various important themes of daily life such as `People and family`, `Health`, `Food and drink`, `Sports and games`, etc. The most interesting thing about the book is that it does not offer meaning of a single word that you look up, but it also makes you learn more about the relative terms.

Topic-by-Topic Dictionary for Active Learning is of a tremendous help in improving the weakness of vocabulary among the children. A highly knowledgeable dictionary with a new and exciting genre will definitely help you increase your learning experience. In short, it is the best and the easiest way to learn English as a second
language.

Farzana Ali Khan 
Available at Paramount Publishing Enterprise
Phone 021-4310030
Email paramount@cyber.net.pk