Vocabulary Cartoons Book Review

"Learn a word a minute and never forget it."

That's a pretty big promise, no? Who wouldn't want to learn a new word in a minute and never, NEVER forget it? Well let me tell you, if ever a product could deliver on a promise, Vocabulary Cartoons is it.

Vocabulary Cartoons is a book of 210 vocabulary words that every grammar school student should know. But it's more than just a word list. Each word is broken down into the standard part of speech, pronunciation, and definition that most vocabulary resources and dictionaries contain. But that's where the similarities end. In Vocabulary Cartoons, each word also contains a "link word" which is a rhyming word/phrase that pairs up nicely with the definition of the vocabulary word to help the student associate the vocabulary word with a more familiar word to them. Each vocabulary word also features an illustration of the vocabulary word and the link word together creating an amusing visual that also aides the student in remembering the vocabulary word. And all of the things I said above are really much better explained with an example page from the book...

The Pros: What a COOL idea! Most people are visual learners and this technique plays right into that. I wish I had come up with this! My son has been exposed to tons of words he'd never seen before, and thanks to the clever illustrations and link words, he remembers them. There are also review quizzes throughout the book to help them retain what they have learned, but I've found that really the drawings and linking words do that for themselves.

The cons: There are only 210 words in the grammar level book...I wish it covered tons more! (Of course, there are two more upper level books for 7th-12th grade that contain almost 300 SAT level words each.)

The bottom line: LOVE IT! We have added this into my son's workboxes for daily vocabulary work, and he does it without complaint. If anything, I have to hold him back. I fully intend to get the other books as well. At $12.95 each, I think they provide a valuable, affordable tool in assisting my children in developing an educated, expansive vocabulary that will serve them for life.

To order this book, or the upper level books, or to view more sample pages, go HERE. To see what other members of the TOS Crew had to say, go HERE.

Legal Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Crew, I received a copy of Vocabulary Cartoons for the purpose of writing this review. That book was the only compensation I received.