By Orin Hargraves
Published at Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
About the book
Do you want to assess your spelling skills, study for the big test, become a spelling bee champ, or learn the spelling secrets of the experts? Now you can with The Big Book of Spelling Tests.
Packed with more than 100 spelling tests, this book will help you spell like a pro. Noted author and lexicographer Orin Hargraves gives indispensable advice for learning all the hints and tricks of spelling. Study spelling patterns and rules, word roots, and more. The book also includes entertaining sidebars, such as how to hold your own spelling bee, and insightful quotes on spelling from some of the most famous people in history.
The spelling tests range in style from multiple choice, to fill in the blank, to say it and spell it, and more. They’re easy to take and even easier to score. The tests progress in difficulty throughout each chapter from beginner level to intermediate and advanced. Throughout the book you’ll find tips to help you spell correctly. Read the tips before taking a test, or try it without any help. The more tests you take, the sharper your spelling skills become!
Who is Orin Hargraves?
Orin Hargraves is the author or editor of six non fiction books and numerous articles about language. He is a noted lexicographer whose latest books include Mighty Fine Words and Smashing Expressions; New Words; Slangs Rules! and Spell It!, which is the official study guide for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. He is the book review editor of Dictionaries, the journal of the Dictionary Society of North America.
My Thoughts
When I saw this title I couldn’t resist to get it. Being an homeschooler, you always look for opportunities or books that would help you kids to develop much needed skills for the future. I have a child who is gifted with his memory and I initially thought of him when I requested this book to review. But having looked at it and explored the pages, I have discovered that anyone could develop an ability of spelling. According to the author, a good speller
Makes a point of remembering new words and relating them to words already known.
Notes the correct pronunciation of words, because this nearly always contains vital clues about spelling.
Notes the origin of a word in cases where this is relevant to spelling.
If these are done apparently you can conquer 95 percent of the spelling challenges. The 5 percent that is left will need memorization to master them as they are quirky words that don’t follow any patterns or rules. The book contains a guide to pronunciation (which would come in handy for me being French Canadian!) as well as a section on what the scores mean. Then you have six chapters that contains tests based on various levels of difficulty. Before each test, you have a little paragraph explaining the rule as well as tips on how to determine how to spell the word.
This book is a write-in type which means that you could answer directly in the pages. However, having four kids I prefer to use a plastic page and special pen so that all of them can use it. As you progress in the book, the level of difficulty is raised. I could easily answer the questions in the first chapter but going further I was having more difficulties.
I find this book an excellent practice to develop spelling and going through it you also learn secrets from experts. Bottom line, it won’t hurt you much if you go through this book to simply learn about it. Besides, it is a great way to develop your vocabulary as well.
The Big Book of Spelling Tests is available for purchase at your favourite boosktore, even amazon.ca.
Disclaimer: Thanks to Thomas Allen for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.
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