This compilation of 300 key words from Dr. Edward Fry’s list of 1000 sight words encourages reading, fuels the imagination, and offers hours of decoding fun. Christoph Niemann has illustrated each word with a picture that challenges new readers to make connections and puzzle out meaning in a playful way. Homophones and an assortment of crazy fun words are also included to delineate the twenty-five sections of the book. This is an excellent, original, and exuberant teaching tool for parents as well as elementary school teachers, and it will also be useful for ESL programs. The physical beauty of the book makes it a great gift for anyone interested in design. Is it a dictionary Well, yes, but one full of poetry, puzzles, and fun!

Dr. Edward Fry (1925–2010) invented the Fry Readability Graph, which is a widely used tool for assessing the readability level of almost any type of reading material. He was on the faculty of Loyola University in LA and Rutgers University in New Jersey, where he became a full professor. During his twenty-two years at Rutgers, he was president of the National Reading Conference, the International Reading Association, and the New Jersey Reading Association. He is a member of the Reading Teacher Hall of Fame. The Fry list of instant words (English words that readers need to know instantly because they are so common) is a standard resource for reading teachers in the US. The first 300 words on this list make up about 65% of all written material.