It’s that time of year again.  The dreaded back-to-school season!  While you are filling your shopping carts with pencils, erasers, and Team Jacob Edward backpacks you might want to add another item to your cart: Brian Leaf’s Defining Twilight.  Defining Twilight is a prep book designed to help build vocabulary for those about to take the SAT, ACT, GED, or SSAT.  The workbook is broken down into groups that make their way chronologically through Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight.  Each group contains sections on vocabulary definitions, synonyms, analogies, and sentence completion, all pertaining to Twilight.

What I liked best about the book was the fact that you use your own copy of Twilight to find the definition and context of the vocabulary words.  For example, in one exercise you are asked to go to page 69 in Twilight to reference and guess at the definition of ‘chagrin’ (I picked this as an example because, if you’ve read Midnight Sun, you know this word is one of Stephenie’s favorites).  You are given space in the workbook to record your own answers and see if they match up with the answer key. There are also quizzes, reviews, and a glossary of all of the vocabulary words includes in this study guide.

I really appreciated the pop culture references Mr. Leaf uses throughout Defining Twilight.  Besides finding them entertaining, I also discovered that these references made the vocabulary definitions stick in my head.  The definition of ‘serene’ is defined in reference to Gossip Girl’s Serena van der Woodsen.  And I never knew that the word ‘chortle’ was invented by Lewis Carroll in his Alice in Wonderland stories.  Mr. Leaf also references Seinfeld and Family Guy to help define the vocab!  This is definitely not your average prep guide.

I really wish that there would have been a book like this when I was in school (you know, in the Dark Ages).  Studying for all of those tests can be a very dry and tedious business.  Having a study guide that utilizes your favorite book to help you learn is a major plus.  It makes learning new vocab fun and engaging.

Defining Twilight is a really great resource designed to take the pain out of studying and help you build a greater vocabulary.  So remember, when your parents ask you why you are reading Twilight yet again, you can tell them you are studying for your upcoming test 🙂

If you have any questions about Defining Twilight, leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer them.  You can order the book here on Amazon.  Be sure to check out the videos on Amazon to get a better look at the teaching methods involved (my favorite is Twilight Context Clues)!

Look for Defining New Moon this October!

For more information on Defining Twilight, check out Brian Leaf’s official website!