Customer Reviews

The Marino Mission: One Girl, One Mission, One Thousand Words; 1,000 Need-to-Know *SAT Vocabulary Words

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We purchased this book on the strong recommendation of a relative, and can likewise recommend it to others, without a bone of contention...

I skim-read the story, and while the artifice used to introduce the vocabulary is a bit much for an adult, it should work well for the target audience. As the heroine is, well, - a heroine, the book might initially appeal more to young women, rather than to boys. But, any young person would probably enjoy the plot and the storyline once immersed in the book. At the risk of dating myself, I'd equate the book to Nancy Drew meets Tom Swift, updated for the 21st century... All in all, an effective and elegant solution for providing young people with a rich vocabulary while preparing them for one of the most significant examinations they must undertake.

Significantly, one-third of the book is devoted to exercises which reinforce the meaning and proper use of the myriad words introduced in the story. As repetition is the root of understanding, students would be wise to make use of this added bonus. Teachers and educators should likewise give this book strong consideration for inclusion in their curriculum and SAT-prep courses.

With the advent of a re-tooled SAT containing a much-dreaded essay component, Ms. Chapman should put her considerable creativity to work on a new book which addresses this coming challenge. I have no doubt that any such attempt would be as engaging and successful as "The Marino Mission."

...On a personal note, at last I can use the word "perspicacity" correctly...

Karen B. Chapman, The Marino Mission (Wiley, 2005)

An excellent idea for a book-- write a short novel aimed at teens that contains one thousand SAT vocabulary words. Pick a subject that will probably resound with the teen population and run with it. Granted, your language is going to be a bit highbrow, but that's the whole purpose of the thing, right?

Chapman comes pretty close to getting it right. The target audience will not be the wiser when she stumbles a bit trying to fit one of the words in (using "prototype," for example, to describe the last instance of something, rather than the first, or an early, instance), and the plot gets a bit clunky at times. Still, for what it is, the books succeeds pretty well. Also comes with a good number of vocabulary exercises and the like for students to get the new words they're exposed to here cemented in their heads. ***

This book is very, very good. My sister is totally into poetry and I'm not but she read this book the Marino Mission, and totally dug it, and Im never reading her stuff, but this was great! A teen romance, but with better writing than what's normal, and definitely NOT BORING. Although it's about a very cute guy hooking up with the heroine in the book. it's really a quite good because its got great adventure and a * thrilling * story. I'm in 9th grade but my sister is in 11th and gets "A"s where I do not, but I learned so much from this book, many new words, because of the notes at the bottom. But mainly I loved the story, I Loved it!

The story is fun, whether or not you learn "1000 words" for the SAT. The main character--a girl--is smart and gets to do things in this story; she travels to South America with her scientist mom and has a job in a lab for the summer. She falls in with a boy she meets on the beach. She and her boyfriend take life by the horns to correct what the adults are doing. It's a mystery, a love story, and a nifty plot combining teenagers and dolphins. You'll learn about genes, dolphins, and vocabulary, yes, but mostly you'll have a good time reading.

I ordered the "Marino Mission" for my grandchildren. They were both delighted with the story line and found it very helpful to have the word definitions printed at the bottom of each page. I will certainly recommend this educational and exceptional book to all my friends.

I have just read "Marino Mission". It is a very clever idea! It is an engaging story that will appeal to teens but it is also very educational. It is such a unique way to introduce vocabulary words.

I could see myself on the beach reading this book - it's as good of a plotline you can get for an SAT book, and has a plethora of SAT words embedded in it, which only minimally detracts from the storyline. The definitions on the bottom of the page are great, and it's cool to see the words that you are using in context in the story. The ending is pretty cheesy, though, but that's okay.

My SAT prep teacher gave this book to us so we can learn a bunch of new words. It was great read! The story was fun, thought at times it seemed quirky and corny. One thing I noticed was that the author had trouble squeezing in some the words. Overall it was not hard to read. It was not boring for any of the students, and we learned plenty of words. The class took a test in the beginning to see how many vocab words we knew. It was a list of 300 SAT level words total. The class averaged about 39%. Using this book as our main vocab builder (Our teacher did not want us to memorize the words from the test) in two weeks we reached 50% and another week the class made it to 68%! Anyways these 1000 words are great for any level, there were some words the advanced kids did not know and students with less vocabulary learned many words very quickly with the help of this wonderful study aid!

My score went from a 450 to a 600 because of this book! The story was good and I am going re-read it to learn some words I may have forgotten.

The high school girl I mentor and I read this book aloud over a period of many weeks. (We alternated readers every couple of paragraphs.) Each day we discussed the words and the actions of the heroine and other characters. On our own we explored other words related to the featured words. When we were finished we read Mayan Mission The Mayan Mission: Another Mission. Another Country. Another Action-Packed Adventure. 1,000 New SAT Vocabulary Wordsand loved that too, just as much. When the next book appears - as I hope it will - I'll be first in line to buy [it!

I like the book. Yet there is a 'blooper'that bugged me. Jose uses words that most english speaking people don't use. I know that this is an SAT novel, but still he's speaks english perfectly. Which is alittle unrealtic and lost me. Im hispanic and live in New England. My first language is english and I struggle speaking spanish. Yet, Jose lives in a very poor spanish speaking country and has an extensive engish vocabulary. I did like that this book did include hispanic characters because most books do not. I thought that the whole 'free willy' theme was so unrealistic. Being a hopeless romantic, i had hoped that Alexa and Jose's relationship would be alittle deeper. I was not satisfied and the ending was so cheesy. Jose says, "it alaways boils down to whether or not you know the vocab". I would have prefered if the book was more like other novels and not so robtic and boring.

Definetly buy "Sunkissed" by Belinda Ray. its an SAT vocab novel also. And doesnt feel robotic like this book.