Getting ready for the ISEE and in need of some ELA support—especially for those all-too-important ISEE vocabulary questions? One of the best ways to improve vocabulary knowledge is by reading more and seeing how words are used in context.
This article dives into a diverse selection of fun reads that are great resources for vocabulary expansion and for improving your ELA skills overall, with stories appropriate for each level of the ISEE. Read on to find your next read!
How to Improve your ISEE Vocabulary by Reading
Habitually reading is one of the best ways to expand your vocabulary and improve your ELA knowledge in your free time. By simply reading more, you’ll come across new words through captivating stories that expand your perspective.
While you’ll still pick up new words as you’re lost in a story, you can learn vocabulary while reading more effectively if you read actively. To read actively for the purpose of vocabulary-learning ahead of the ISEE:
- Highlight and write down new words you come across. Add to your existing vocabulary lists with words you came across in your reading. (Tip: Note the page number to come back to it for context.)
- When you have a list of words, go through it and study each of them. Define the word, find its etymology, and find some synonyms. Bonus points if you break it down into word parts!
- Turn your words into flash cards. Study them like you’d study a typical vocabulary list, continually adding to them as you come across more new vocabulary words.
ISEE Vocabulary Lower Level Books to Read
If you’re getting ready to take the Lower Level ISEE and applying to a new school for 5th/6th grade, try out one of these books to improve your ISEE Vocabulary skills! This selection of 3 books from different genres feature excellent diction and exciting plots to keep you turning the page!
Don’t forget to study with Piqosity’s Lower Level ISEE Vocabulary flash cards, too!
Peak by Roland Smith
The winner of the 2007 National Outdoor Book Award, Peak follows a 14-year-old protagonist with the same name as he endeavors to climb mountains, New York City skyscrapers, and even Mount Everest itself. Raised by two mountaineering parents, it’s no wonder Peak is so motivated to climb and reach humanity’s limits.
An adventurous tale sure to keep you enthralled through all 246 pages, Peak explores the physical and emotional challenges that a teen must face in his journey to climb Earth’s tallest mountain. Author Roland Smith narrates with a suspenseful pace and rich diction as Peak embarks on one of the most challenging feats that humanity can face. (If you end the book craving more, you’ll be pleased to know it’s a four-part series! Pick up The Edge next.)
“My little blue mountains were small, but I made up for their size by putting them in audacious places where they might never be seen except by a bored office worker or window washer.”
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Fantasy lovers will devour Inkheart, where a bookbinder’s daughter, Maggie, realizes her father has the power to bring book characters to life by reading aloud. When he read the book Inkheart years ago, he brought to life three characters—including the villain. For everyone brought to life, someone must be brought into the book, and that’s how Maggie’s mother went missing.
When the characters brought to life put Maggie’s life at risk, she and her father must go on an adventure to find an original copy of Inkheart to save themselves and bring back Maggie’s mother. Readers love the vivid characters, the fantastical world in the Inkheart book, and the nearly old-fashioned style of writing.
“A foreboding, clammy and fearful, came into her heart as if, along with the visitor whose name was so strange yet somehow familiar, some menace had slipped into her life.”
Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
Set in the rural United States in 1918, 16-year-old Hattie is given an opportunity to move from Iowa to Montana and havea home of her own. After years of living with various distant relatives as an orphan, her uncle’s homestead claim is left in her name, giving her the opportunity to brave the unknown and find what home means for her.
Hattie faces all sorts of obstacles in her pursuit of homesteading, including dangerous weather, malicious neighbors, and an uncooperative cow named Violet. This story about courage and perseverance in making a life for yourself in the face of dangers has been beloved by middle-grade readers for years.
“My pridefulness was a constant source of sorrow and agitation for Aunt Ivy. She’d worn out many a switch trying to cure me of it.”
Books to Improve ISEE Middle Level Vocabulary
Those applying to grades 7 & 8 will take the Middle Level ISEE. Try one (or all) of these captivating YA books to improve your ELA & vocabulary skills in time for the test!
Don’t forget to study with Piqosity’s Middle Level ISEE Vocabulary flash cards, too!
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
When Leigh’s mother commits suicide, she is convinced her spirit turned into a bird that she is determined to find. She travels to Taiwan to that end, meeting her maternal grandparents and uncovering family secrets that had been dormant for years. As she researches and explores her mother’s hometown, she grapples with her grief and attempts to find herself.
If you want the next book you read to move you, pick up The Astonishing Color of After. Falling into the genre of YA magical realism, Emily X.R. Pan gently weaves magic and fantasy into our real world. Readers love the powerful story, the realistic characters, and the beautiful lyricism of the author’s writing style.
“And maybe he’d see how my mother had sliced up everything else. How even if he could wrench that arrow free, the rest of me was so punctured and torn that nothing would ever be able to suture me back together”
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Ender’s Game is a classic in the genre of middle-grade science fiction, set years in the future when humankind is at war with an insectoid alien species. The protagonist, Ender, is enlisted with several other young children in training to be elite space military officers, facing war games and tests of their tactical skills. At the same time, his siblings publish political essays on Earth in hopes of influencing people and the government.
The winner of both the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award (the two most prestigious awards for science fiction literature), Ender’s Game has been beloved by readers since its publication in 1985. It’s praised for its themes (such as the justification of violence, authoritarianism, and the use of child soldiers) and deep discussions of war tactics and politics.
“For a moment, the others backed away and Stilson lay motionless. They were all wondering if he was dead. Ender, however, was trying to figure out a way to forestall vengeance.”
Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman
Caden Bosch is simultaneously a fifteen-year-old trying to survive high school and a member of a pirate crew, grappling with his role on the ship and exploration of the Marina Trench. In Challenger Deep, acclaimed YA author Neal Shusterman depicts the onset of schizophrenia in a teenager in a unique way, immersing the reader in the partly-real, partly-fantasy perspective Caden has.
Readers of all ages are deeply moved by the profound artistic voyage of Challenger Deep. They love how Shusterman symbolically illustrates the development of mental illness, and the lovable nature of Caden’s character, who succeeds in improving the lives of those around him even when he’s struggling with his own issues.
“He goes back to his charts, writing words and adding fresh arrows on top of what is already there, layering his thoughts so thick, only he can decipher them.”
Books to Read for ISEE Upper Level Vocabulary Prep
If you’re applying to grades 9-12 and looking for ISEE vocabulary-building books, look no further than this selection! These three novels are immensely
Don’t forget to study with Piqosity’s Upper Level ISEE Vocabulary flash cards, too!
Emma by Jane Austen
All of Jane Austen’s works are excellent books to expand vocabulary. One of her most beloved novels, Emma tells of 21-year-old Emma Woodhouse’s favorite pastime: interfering in the lives of those around her… by matchmaking! She gives herself the role of the community cupid, endeavoring to bring love to her friends and neighbors with the help of her wit and keen perception.
However, things aren’t so simple—despite her good intentions, Emma disrupts real relationships and breaks hearts instead of uniting them. As she always does, Austen creates colorful characters and a winding plot in exploration of the role wealth plays in the pursuit of love. Emma is a must-read for high schoolers!
“The style of the letter was much above her expectation. There were not merely no grammatical errors, but as a composition it would not have disgraced a gentleman: the language, though plain, was strong and unaffected, and the sentiments it conveyed very much to the credit of the writer. It was short, but expressed good sense, warm attachment, liberality, propriety, even delicacy of feeling.”
The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X with Alex Haley
One of the most influential books in American history, The Autobiography of Malcolm X describes in captivating detail how a young child from Omaha, Nebraska grew up to become an African American revolutionary and civil rights activist. It explores the death of his father and his mother’s mental health issues, his involvement in crime as an adult on the east coast, how he found religion and purpose while serving in prison, his life after prison as the spokesperson for the Nation of Islam, and his global travels that informed his activism at home.
Readers love the personable tone of the novel, as if Malcolm X is having a conversation with them, illustrating his transformation into a leader and his thoughts on the role of Black Americans in the American political system. If you want a taste of 20th century American history directly from one of its most prominent figures, you’ll devour this read.
“If a showtime crowd liked your performance, when you came off you were mobbed, mauled, grasped, and pummeled like the team that’s just taken the series.”
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
Our last feature in this collection of ISEE vocabulary-building books is a work from one of the most prolific and esteemed writers of contemporary fiction, Louise Erdrich. She is known for integrating myths, settings, and themes from her Ojibwe heritage into all her stories.
The Sentence, inspired by her own life as a bookstore owner, follows Tookie—a woman who began working at a bookstore after years of incarceration, finding that the bookstore is haunted by its most annoying customer. This slightly-eerie, mostly-heartwarming story is focused on both the immeasurable value of literature and the consideration of what we owe to those that have died. Readers love the way The Sentence captures our modern, post-pandemic world, and its cast of vibrant characters.
“Ted Johnson was the most nondescript person ever, sad-sack in baggy Men’s Warehouse suits, floppy 1980s ties, a half-bald pate sprouting hair just at the ear line, a curly swatch he kept tucking back. He had a round bland face with perfectly opaque green eyes and pinhole pupils cold as drill bits. Unfortunately he was not covering up a preternatural shrewdness.”
How to Prepare for All ISEE Sections
We hope one of the books above piqued your interest to help improve your ISEE vocabulary. Of course, reading alone won’t catapult your Verbal Reasoning score, but using an entertaining story as a source of vocabulary discovery is a great way to supplement your studying. If you’re looking for help with your ISEE test prep, Piqosity has you covered.
Along with our full-length, online ELA and Math courses for grades 5-11, we offer full ISEE test prep courses (and SAT/ACT), each of which includes 12 practice exams, dozens of concept lessons, personalized practice software, and more.
Piqosity’s uniquely-structured user interface can help you strategically manage your study time for maximum improvement. If you feel like you’re hitting a wall looking for ways to reach that ISEE goal score, Piqosity’s tried and true test-taking resources and strategies are perfect for your ISEE prep journey.
The best part? You can try out all of Piqosity’s features with our free community account. When you’re ready to upgrade, Piqosity’s year-long accounts start at only $89.
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