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Title: The Ring of McAllister: A Score-Raising Mystery Featuring 1,000 Must-Know SAT Vocabulary Words by Robert Marantz ISBN: 0-7432-3520-7 Publisher: Kaplan Press Pub. Date: 24 December, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (12 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: SAT words are good but the story is bad.
Comment: I'm 18 and I just finished reading this book. I gave it two stars only because of the amount of SAT words. The book is really bad and to make it worse, it was mandatory for a class I took. I was really disapointed at the story line and I was expecting a much better read. The SAT words were great and there is a lot of them, but I found it more enjoyable to read magazines even though there are much less SAT words. However, everybody learns differently. I learn SAT words with flash cards while other people learn SAT words by reading books. Its not a long book and it can be educational, so read it for the SAT words. Remember those SAT words but forget the story.
Rating: 4
Summary: An effective concept that supersedes memorizing wordlists
Comment: So finally Kaplan came out with their version of learning SAT vocabulary in context of a book. Like its similar counterparts,"Tooth and Nail" and Barron's "Simon's Saga", this book tries to help students learn vocaulary in a 'novel' way. I think learning words through reading is an effective way to build an great vocabulary and easier than memorizing word lists.
The story is about a high-school student named Will who lives next to an abandoned mansion supposedly haunted by the town hero Algernon McAllister. Will had an incident involving the mansion when he was young and is terrified by the thought of it. Soon enough, a historian and his daughter move next door and strange events start happening. It up to Will and his new neighbor Laura to figure how the mystery of the mansion, and uncover the truth behind the recent chaos in their quiant town.
The author effectively integrates the SAT words into the book and there is a glossary of all the words in the back. I enjoyed this book and learning the words in context , but I think Kaplan could of done a better job of instilling the words into the reader's mind. Like in Simon's Saga, at the end of each chapter every SAT word was defined and there were exercises involving the words. I think this really helped me learn words most effectively. But in "The Ring of McAllister" there are no excercises, and you have to flip back and forth to the glossary to look up words. This can be a pain after a while.
Overall, I like the concept of this book, but I think it could of done a better job of making the reader remember the words with exercises and definitions right at the end of the chapter.
Rating: 4
Summary: Talent rises above adversity
Comment: O.k. for those looking to buy the book for their kids, buy it. Now. I am a private tutor of high school kids of all ability levels and besides relearning a few choice forgotten words, I found the story engaging and Marantz well up to the challenge. This will work for kids of the academic version of little league psychos who have mastered the under 1500 guilt trip or anyone needing to break 1000. Buy it. The book teaches and entertains. Mission successful.
Oh, Kaplan, DO NOT go away. You deserve chastisement (yep, it's in there) on two counts.
1. Your editing. The first 2/3 of the book feel like somebody did their best to geld the author and tack on the same phrases (can we have a word count on "laugh"?) in the place of inspired writing. There is clearly an external attempt to not trust the author and force the manuscript into something is for a 6th grade reading level with a lot of big words shoved in. Luckily you failed.
That's a serious accusation, and one I would not make were it not for the last 1/3 of the novel. All of it sudden it becomes a mature (but still kid-safe) book where Marantz pulls off some genuinely creepy moments, and affects the reader on a deeper level while keeping the stream of SAT vocab steady. Gone are extraneous phrases (characters are free to feel pain or fear without big neon arrows redundantly pointing at them) and only the quality remains. Read Marantz's bio again, and show a little trust.
2. On a similar theme, I would have loved to see a bit more of an effort for the writing community in general. He was serving two masters (well, three counting the orangutan editorial board) and pulled off a credible job. He lives in Los Angeles so with all of the major writers fairs and conferences going on, why is he not speaking? It's difficult enough to write for a target audience, let alone with additional constraints. Think of it this way: some of the best free-verse poets began as formalists; there's a lesson in his discipline. Forget the SAT kids for a moment, there are a lot of aspiring writers who could learn a great deal through his troubles. This would be an excellent text for college creative writing courses because of it's strengths and weaknesses. The production values of the book are excellent. Somebody must have cared. Now do yourselves (i.e. more sales), your author, and the writing community a favor.
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Title: Simon's Saga for the SAT I Verbal by Philip Geer ISBN: 0764122002 Publisher: Barrons Educational Series Pub. Date: 08 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Tooth and Nail: A Novel Approach to the New SAT by Charles Harrington Elster, Joseph Elliot ISBN: 0156013827 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 12 January, 1994 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Wizard of Oz Vocabulary Builder by Mark Phillips ISBN: 0972743901 Publisher: A. J. Cornell Publications Pub. Date: 13 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Vocabulary Cartoons: Building an Educated Vocabulary With Visual Mnemonics by Sam Burchers, Max Burchers, Bryan Burchers ISBN: 0965242285 Publisher: New Monic Books Pub. Date: April, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Vocabulary Cartoons II: Building an Educated Vocabulary With Sight and Sound Memory AIDS by Sam Burchers, Max Burchers, Bryan Burchers ISBN: 0965242269 Publisher: New Monic Books Pub. Date: April, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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