TOS REVIEW: College Prep Genius- Vocab Cafe

SAT words can be a challenge to learn and retain. But what if there was an interesting way to do it? Like reading an interesting, engaging story with the words right in the story with definitions easily accessible (without getting out the dictionary) on the same page.



I received four books from College Prep Genius that are intended to be interesting to read and include the features I mentioned. The idea is that while reading, the bold words (the SAT words) are learned in context and then understood by reading the definitions at the bottom of the page. At the end of each chapter of the story is a word bank for further review.

VocabCafé books help students easily learn SAT-level words while reading an original wholesome story. These modern novellas contain no foul language, no illicit sexual themes, and no sorcery! (from the website)

I read all four books –my favorite being Planet Exile- before letting my kids read any of them. These are said to have been written and designed to be used with students in high school. The individual books can be purchased from College Prep Genius for $12.95 (plus tax and shipping) or as a set of all four books for a special price of $38.85 (plus tax and shipping). With an interesting story line and not too many unfamiliar words included in the passages, College Prep Genius has come up with a way to help people learn (and hopefully retain) SAT level words. I learned quite a few new words from these books.

Each book contains an original, narrative story that includes 300 SAT-level vocabulary words interspersed throughout the plot. The vocabulary selections are bold-italicized with a corresponding definition and pronunciation guide at the bottom of every page. The goal is to help students learn words in context, and thus make the process of vocabulary building more effective and fun (from College Prep Genius).

I will give you a brief description of each book first, tell you how we used these books in our homeschool and also what my kids thought of the books.

I started with The Summer of St. Nick (honestly the cover caught my attention lol). It has a simple story line (boy finds a large sum of money and instead of spending it on himself, helps those in his community that need it- even those [one in particular!] who do not deserve it). The writing in this book, in my opinion, is about junior high level. The SAT words that are boldface were sometimes a distraction for me while reading this book because they are not consistent with the reading level of the rest of the story. But it was otherwise easy reading and not too bad (and the aim of learning more advanced words was fulfilled). *155 pages of reading*
Next, I read Planet Exile. This one is about a knavish, gamesome (two words I picked up from the book) boy who gets into constant trouble. He is sent to a military school- that orbits his planet. It just goes from bad to worse for him but I will let you know it ends up all good in the end This was definitely my favorite book. I could see this one having a sequel. *107 pages of reading*

I followed it by I.M. for Murder. With the inclusion of computers and internet in almost all facets of life now, it makes for a believable story line. High school kids get caught up in trouble via instant messaging (I.M.). In the end, the boys are rescued from a serial killer. This one was the most disturbing of the four but it was only vaguely descriptive of the disturbing scenes. I would not recommend giving this one to a sensitive child (or one younger than perhaps 15). The SAT words were craftily placed throughout this book so that they flowed well. *157 pages of reading*

Finally, I read Operation High School. It did take me a bit to get into this one. A new girl in school trying to fit in (not desperately though) is contacted by a secret group. After passing the initiation into the group she is welcomed as part of A.I.T. But part of the secrecy oath means that she cannot be friends with the members of the group outside of their meetings and missions. The four friends of the secret group get themselves into some trouble. As it says on the back cover, the invitation to the secret group leads to “a journey of cold nights, shadowy figures, and even threats to national security.” *209 pages of reading*

How we used these books: *note: I did not let my 12 yo read I.M. for Murder.
The books were read as a leisurely activity. They were not “quizzed” on what they read. I made up crosswords for the words with a free online crossword generator. Some of the chapters had only a few words (I think only 1 or 2 chapters had just 1 word) and so I combined the chapters. For each crossword, I included at least 25 words from the readings. The hints were the definitions.

Another way that these books can be used it to discuss the words as they were used in context. For some of the words, one of us may not have understood why it was used but after discussing what was happening in the sentence, or scene of the book, we may be able to figure it out.

Here is one I made for Planet Exile. It is only chapter 1 and part of 2 (to page 24) because each of the chapters in this book contain an average of 30 words per chapter. Some of the words in the chapter I didn’t include because the kids already knew the meaning (such as ‘brawn’). You will want to copy and paste into a document and probably increase the font for easier reading

Across
5. adj, tyrannical; domineering
9. n, model of excellence
10. adj, friendly; easy to approach; pleasant
12. n, a person who attacks cherished beliefs
14. v, to mislead; to lie
16. v, to intrude without approval
18. adj, reverting to an earlier type; throwback
21. v, to implant by repeated statement; teach persistently
22. n, a close friend
25. v, to give a bright or pleasing aspect to something
26. adj, highly elevated; belonging to a select group
Down
1. v, to alienate the affections
2. adj, playful; frolicsome
3. adj, shameless or impudent; like brass
4. n, street urchin
6. n, a person who deceives by appearance
7. v, to deceive; to perplex
8. v, to banish (a person) from his country
11. v, to show to be false; to misrepresent
13. n, vertical position
15. n, a mark of misconduct; fault
17. n, urgency; situation needing prompt action
19. n, superficial appearance of something
20. n, a person's name, esp. a nickname or alias
23. adj, untrustworthy; dishonest
24. n, any song of praise or joy

What did my kids think of these books?

Lee (15): “I.M. for Murder was good but the story was short. It seems like the books are written for younger kids with big words put in. Vocab Café has a good idea but I think that if they are going to put the words in, they need to change the way they write the books in general.” *To this I add: she reads at a college level already so the books ‘felt’ young to her. I think they would be suited to middle school and lower high school but could be used by upper high school as well.

Fox (12): “I liked Planet Exile. The story was good but sometimes the words were out of place. They could have used more simple words.” *To this I said that the point is to use more difficult words. He also read The Summer of St. Nick but didn't really care for it.

And a word from the authors:
***A WORD ABOUT CONTENT – These books were written with an intended audience of high school teenagers, although many parents find them appropriate for their middle school or younger students. As a family-based company, our goal is to make a quality product that can be enjoyed by everyone. Thus, these stories contain no magic, sorcery, swear words, illicit situations, nor do they encourage negative behaviors. However, we recommend that parents should read every book that they give their children (not just ours) to make sure the messages coincide with their beliefs and standards. The VocabCafé Book Series does contain boy-girl relationships (non-sexual), mild violence, and mature thematic elements.

Bottomline:
Pros: I think these are a great idea. As I mentioned, there have been many times when reading I haven’t known what a word meant and it throws off the reading. Having the definition of an unfamiliar word on the same page as that word is very helpful. Since my kids are not preparing to take SATs any time soon (well, not for a couple of years anyway), the drive to have these words committed to memory isn’t necessary. I do think that if one were trying to increase their vocabulary (which is the intent we had), these books would help that.

Cons: Unfortunately, there are quite a few typos in the books. In one book, I.M. for Murder, it was so bad that it was distracting. In Operation High School the formatting for the dialogue is very strange. I have no idea if it was done on purpose but it is formatted for a quote rather than a dialogue. It was somewhat annoying but it is consistent allowing the reader to ‘get used to it’. The stories are not as ‘wholesome’ as I was thinking they would be but they do seem to fit in well with the teenage crowd (judging by movies and other books on the market today that are directed to them). Refer back to the note from the authors about content. The one or two instances where I was uncomfortable with reading, were so mild in comparison to many books in print today. There are many many instances of the teenagers lying to parents or pulling stunts that some parents would most likely not condone.

As with all books and materials, I suggest it is best to prescreen them as parents to be sure they align with your values and morals.

As they are at the time that I read them, in good conscience I would only recommend Planet Exile and only to a few people. (I may be a little partial; I enjoyed the story line as well as the writing of this one more than the other books) Some behaviors of the teenagers (even the ‘good’ ones) include lying, whether outright or by omission, an act of arson (and then not getting prosecuted for it!), sneaking into places they should not be, inappropriate treatment of others and other instances.

I would recommend these for those who are focused purely on vocabulary expansion and do not have a problem with the above inclusions to the story line. I do feel that the books need to be edited once more and the errors corrects. The books offered from College Prep Genius Vocab Café have a great idea with providing books that have already done the work of picking out or placing into the reading advanced words and placing the definitions on the same page.



You can see what other TOS Homeschool Crew members thought of this product by visiting the TOS Homeschool Crew website (at the bottom of the product post there is a link to see all the links to reviews by Crew members).

***Disclaimer: I received the four Vocab Café books from College Prep Genius via the TOS Homeschool Review Crew. I was required to give an honest review in exchange. No other compensation was given. All opinions in this post are my own or those of my children. I only recommend products that I feel were good for our family and/or may be useful to other families. See Disclosure/Policies.***