Brian Leaf's Defining Twilight

Although I can't say I'm a huge fan of Twilight, I am a fan of this little book. Studying vocabulary words is usually about as much fun as chewing on glass, but Brian Leaf's clever interweaving of a popular novel with vocabulary building makes the task a lot more palatable.

Brian Leaf, an experienced teacher and tutor, capitalizes on a proven vocabulary-learning technique in Defining Twilight -- specifically, he puts into practice the idea that we build our vocabularies through reading. We remember words best when we encounter them in a meaningful context, not when we flip through a thousand flashcards or read a long list of definitions.

Defining Twilight uses Stephanie Meyer's best-selling vampire novel Twilight to teach students 600 words that might be useful for the SAT, ACT, other standardized exams, and a student's daily life.

Each word is keyed to the page on which it appears in the novel. Leaf then takes a three-step approach to teaching his readers the word:

1. look up the word in the novel and guess at its definition based on the context
2. read the actual definition
3. take practice questions using the new vocabulary words

Defining Twilight shouldn't be the only tool for a student's test preparation efforts, but it certainly has the potential to bring up one's verbal score significantly. Many other SAT and ACT prep books include more vocabulary words, but students who use Brian Leaf's book along with Twilight are more likely to retain the words they study.

For the test-taker who loves Twilight and needs to boost that verbal score, Defining Twilight is a few dollars well spent.