Oliver Jeffers is an author-illustrator of many books for children, including
A Child of Books with Sam Winston;
Once Upon an Alphabet, which was named a
Boston Globe–
Horn Book Award Honor Book;
Lost and Found, which was a Nestlé Children’s Book Prize Gold Medal winner; and
Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth, which was named a
Time Magazine Top Ten Book of the Year. He is also the illustrator of the #1
New York Times bestseller
The Day the Crayons Quit, written by Drew Daywalt, as well as a fine artist whose work ranges from figurative painting to installation. In 2022, he was named a member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to the arts. Born in Australia, Oliver Jeffers grew up in Northern Ireland and now lives and works in Brooklyn.
Sam Winston is a fine artist whose work has been exhibited worldwide and is held in many permanent collections. Institutions that have exhibited or currently house his work include the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, the Tate Galleries in London, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. He is the cocreator of
A Child of Books with Oliver Jeffers and the author-illustrator of
One & Everything, which is currently featured in an exhibit on alphabets at the Bodleian, Oxford University, and which
School Library Journal hailed in a starred review as a “a story that works on many levels for various ages, from a simple fable about greed to a wake-up call to value linguistic diversity.” Sam Winston lives and works in London.
The creators of
A Child of Books are back with another charming work of metafiction. . . . Unimaginable care has been taken with the very real handmade books that visibly bookend the story. . . . Meanwhile, pages are filled to the brim with tiny details for eyes both young and old to find and enjoy. . . . With hijinks and hilarity hidden on every page, this is a sweet, strange, wordy tale bound to delight all who pick it up.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
[A] marvelously creative endeavor. . . . Equally successful on varying levels, a young child would enjoy the humor of the characters’ adventures, while older readers and adults can delve into the rich details of the dictionary pages themselves.
—Booklist (starred review)
Oliver Jeffers is one of the most recognizable and innovative creators in children’s literature today, and
The Dictionary Story showcases his vivid imagination at work in yet another collaboration with the wildly inventive Sam Winston. A masterful combination of the simple and the complex, this book is sure to be a favorite.
—BookPage (starred review)
Prior collaborators Jeffers and Winston used type as a dynamic visual element in
A Child of Books, and it takes center stage too in this title—a quick-moving tale about a dictionary, “never quite sure of herself” among other books’ clear arcs. . . a careful-what-you-wish-for story whose meta conceit and comic pacing would tickle any lexicographer.
—Publishers Weekly
Wordplay abounds in the delightfully madcap and meta
The Dictionary Story by the first-rate duo behind
A Child of Books.
. . . The authors' imaginative humor shines in text-heavy dictionary pages punctuated by the appearance of the alphabet-inspired creatures, illustrated in Jeffers's distinctive naïve style. . . .The joy is in the details in this story meant for misfits (like Ms. Dictionary herself): readers who take their time turning the pages will find gifts in the tiny print. . . . This playful celebration of language is sure to delight word lovers of all ages.
—Shelf Awareness
Ambitious, imaginative, and incredibly detailed. It’s about a dictionary who longs to tell a story like the other books on the shelf. So she decides to use some of her words for a story, but the words get a little out of hand and cause much chaos. Beyond the main story, the background illustrations of her pages show funny word definitions. There’s so much detail. It’s a longer-than-average picture book, and possibly my favorite by Jeffers so far. It’s sure to get lots of laughs.
—The Kids Are All Right
This stunning work of art in book form invites readers to return again and again to enjoy its humor and beauty.
—Daily Press
“This unique picture book upends the nature of a dictionary — words in alphabetical order — when Dictionary decides she wants to not just be a list but tell a story. Be careful what you wish for.
The Dictionary Story is absurd, surreal, hilarious, and utterly charming. Kids will enjoy the humor, the illustrations, the mayhem, and they'll relate to the singalong solution Dictionary comes up with to get things back in order.”
—Common Sense Media
