Diane Frank

My daughter made me do it! Write my first phonetic dictionary that is. And as usual, as with any dyslexic person I've met, they are full of bright, intelligent ideas! The first time she laid eyes on a Rubic's cube, at 8 years of age, she solved it within 20 seconds.

As most of us know, dyslexics are challenged with the written word in general. They have a disdain for letters which move around and simply disappear on them. But many dyslexics, as was so for my daughter, have a near photographic memory and are more logical than any adult I know. So, of course, Gabby's idea encouraged me to write her a dictionary which spelled the words the way she spelled them (phonetically). This only made absolute good sense coming from a 13 year old! And who better to write a book for those who are challenged with spelling than by someone who excels at spelling? I was the perfect candidate, language was my bag!

Ten years later, in 2008, I completed her first dictionary and shipped it to her for her birthday!

As word spread quickly, the dictionary, without advertising, was to be located in over 700 school districts and 11 countries. Some reviewers and critics were concerned that the print was not standard. The print was in landscape mode but the cover and front matter was native/portrait style. Having taken the dictionaries to schools for pilot studies, the observational results would be that students loved the fact that their first dictionary was nothing like a standard dictionary. They were able to easily handle the layout and locate their misspelled words quickly. Teachers enjoyed that their students found the book interesting, different and helped them find their misspelled word must quicker than a standard dictionary. Teachers voted 'yes', reviewers voted 'no'.

When I was invited to Colima University in Mexico in 2009 to inquire as to access to lease the rights to distribute the book to over 30 Latin countries, my heart dropped. While in Mexico, I had observed those perusing the dictionary struggling to transpose Spanish letters with English letters. I had made a determination to create a Spanish-English phonetic dictionary right about the time I heard back from Colima University with their request. I declined their offer and went back to work writing another dictionary for Spanish people learning English for the first time.

While traveling back and forth to Mexico working with translators, it was insisted by my 4 year old grandson to take along his toy action figure to protect me. smile. He was so sad for me to go each time and to remedy and share my adventures, I would photograph his toy (whom he named Jang Jang) exploring Mexico. These 75 photographs over the 3 years traveling back and forth accumulated into a story. This story became a book I donated to him in January, 2020 entitled, "Adventures of Jang Jang; Jang Jang Goes to Mexico" (ISBN 978-0-9830381-9-1), a chapter storybook with over 40 Spanish words, 75 photographs and a glossary. It was also published as an ebook.

In 2015, 'Wordspeller Phonetic Dictionary' (ISBN 978-0-9830381-4-6) and 'Wordspeller ESL Phonetic Dictionary' (ISBN 978-0-9830381-5-3) were published. The print was turned back to a native/vertical position to suit some people's need to hold a standard book version in their hands. Reviewers, we know who you are.

The dictionaries were becoming too large for affordable printing for those who needed them and was quickly remedied by 2015 by becoming Apps available to digital devices. 'American Wordspeller' and 'Wordspeller ESL' are now located on Amazon, Google and Apple stores.

Update to 2020. i.m.Press Publishers just published my latest dictionary reverting back to the original "Gabbys Wordspeller" whose print is back to being juxtapositioned into landscape/ horizontal layout. Another change by design was the apostrophe in the title, "Gabby's Wordspeller". The 2008 and 2010 editions which spelled (appropriately) Gabby's title using an apostrophe in her name proved very challenging to locate as some libraries listed the book without an apostrophe and some with it. To avoid confusion, although not grammatically correct, the apostrophe was dropped from future titles.

The latest release of phonetic dictionaries on 2-20-20 are;

"Gabbys Wordspeller ESL; Spanish to English Dictionary" (ISBN 978-0-9801025-3-6) a Paperback, 2-color First Edition.

"Gabbys Wordspeller ESL; Spanish to English Dictionary" (ISBN 978-0-9801025-7-4) Case/Hard Cover Edition.

These resource books are compiled entirely by hand, letter by letter. I will continue adding new misspellings via emails and friendly phonetic spellers until the day I leave this plane. I simply hope this is a helpful floating device for those drowning in a sea of words!

"Gabby's Wordspeller & Phonetic Dictionary" condensed edition in 1-color & 2-color formats released 2008 & 2010 are no longer in print.

All dictionaries were co-authored by the brilliant Gabrielle Purcell and hundreds of teachers, dylexic kids and adults who continually sent me new, creative misspellings. For the ESL editions I thank many ESL teachers who were very generous in contacting me on FB, via the website and email to have me add misspelled words their students contrived in classes.

As I wrap up the latest edition releases here in 2020, I will be hitting the road to visit libraries and schools to introduce the dictionaries. But my primary intent is to read and share the "Adventures of Jang Jang" who will be traveling the globe as this now gray-haired author is ready to retire!