J. Stone

This book is intended to help students in grades 4 - 8 to learn some vocabulary words.

A lot is packed into each page. The word is followed by its pronunciation, and the type of word that it is (noun, verb, adjective). There is a short definition of the word, followed by a pair of sentences using the word. Antonyms and synonyms (remember them?) are included, and then there is a silly cartoon illustrating the word. In the back of the book are review exercises involving each of the new words, to reinforce the learning.

Children learn in many different ways; what works for one child may not work for another child. This is a gem of a book. The average middle school student should have no problem understanding this book. It is recommended for older students who might need some vocabulary help. It is also recommended for recent immigrants to America who are attempting to navigate their way through the English language.… (altro)

This book attempts to teach vocabulary to students taking the Middle/Lower Level of the SSAT/ISEE test.

For each vocabulary word (there is one per page), there is the pronunciation and the type of word it is (noun, verb, adjective). There is a short definition of the word, and a couple of sentences using the word. Next are several synonyms and antonyms for each word. Most of the page is occupied with a silly cartoon illustrating a rhyme for each word. In the back of the book are review exercises with answers included. The book also has some tips to make memorizing each word easier.

This book does an excellent job at painlessly teaching elementary school vocabulary. It is recommended for all students taking the SSAT/ISEE test. It is also recommended for any student who needs extra help with vocabulary.… (altro)

This book is intended to help students pass the vocabulary portion of the SSAT/ISEE tests.

The author advocates a different way to memorize vocabulary words. Instead of just memorizing the word, the student should associate the word with a word that rhymes that the student already knows. Those words are put together into a silly picture or sentence that the student will remember.

Here are a couple of examples of such sentences. An eagle is not a Feeble creature. You can't Grate grapes. His Prominent nose is his dominant feature. Enemies Conspired to take over the empire. The vocabulary word is the one with capital first letter.

This easy to use book also includes review exercises in the back of the book, with answers included. This book is not just recommended for students preparing for the SSAT/ISEE tests. It is also recommended for any student who just wants to improve their vocabulary.… (altro)

• Intended genre and audience : Not stated.
I'd venture to say dystopia with some horror & western elements thrown in, and a sort-of-steampunk feel (yes, it can get "busy" at times). Possibly for a YA audience ? The language is clear as rainwater and the characters not overly complex so the tale would be accessible to juvenile readers able to read a short novel, but there are some fairly gory moments.

• The heroine is of a type I could see more of, a tinker and a hacker, an active agent who survives mostly by her brains and a bit of brawn, more often the rescuer than the rescued, and thankfully NOT involved in the "mandatory" over-invasive romance that comes with many YA dystopias. Her romantic/sexual preferences do make a minor appearance (she happens to be rather matter-of-factly a lesbian or possibly bisexual, no explicit content or drama involved), but for the most part she's understandably too busy taking care of other things, like saving her own skin, that of her loved ones and improving the life of a good chunk of the world as she knows it.

• A general feel that I'd describe as... cartoony ? Both in good and bad.
The pacing is enjoyably brisk.
Most of the tech and science featured are given the “rule of cool” and cartoon treatment, one that doesn't break the pace of action and would probably work very well visually but can get very shaky if you actually slow down to think about it. So you'll see instant mutagens cooked on the corner of a kitchen table, mid-fight jury-rigging, disparate generations of tech crammed together even when it doesn't really make sense...

• The book (read as a Kindle e-book on the stand-alone app for Windows) is cleanly edited with no or few enough mistakes (maybe some unexplained minor font size variations ?). The language is very plain and shouldn't be an obstacle to anyone's understanding of the story, but while there's a relatively successful effort at giving characters in dialogues individual voices befitting their station, personality, etc... it feels very flat whenever the "neutral" narrative voice is speaking. Very, very flat.

• The end feels very abrupt.… (altro)