NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Forget your parents’ test prep - this isn’t your older sibling’s either. Global educational services provider Kaplan and TOKYOPOP, one of the world’s leading youth-oriented entertainment brands, are bringing a lot more “ZAM” and “POW” to the SAT and ACT prep experiences with the release of the Kaplan SAT/ACT Vocabulary-Building Manga series. This series of popular graphic novels features manga – the Japanese word for comics and print cartoons – with hundreds (more than 300 in each graphic novel) of frequently tested words on these essential* college admissions exams to create a unique set of test prep comics.

Image from Amazon
Psy-Comm, Volume 1: Kaplan SAT/ACT Vocabulary-Building Manga
by Jason Henderson, Tony Salvaggio

This series represents the newest trend in teen reading and the fastest growing segment in the publishing industry, with manga sales jumping 22 percent from 7.8 million books in 2005 to 9.5 million last year. Appealing to teens interested in a good read, the Kaplan SAT/ACT Vocabulary-Building Manga series provides an engaging, nontraditional method of vocabulary review, allowing the reader to crack the context of SAT and ACT words not only from the surrounding text on the page and the definitions in talk bubbles around the margins, but also from the graphic elements of the story. The series kicks off with three thrilling graphic novels:

* Warcraft: Dragon Hunt: Students can read all about Kalec, the blue dragon who assumes human form, and his hazardous* adventures and watershed* revelations as he tries to elude* the Undead Scourge.
* Psy-Comm: Students can learn how our futuristic heroes try to overcome* the cunning* plans of futuristic robber barons who jeopardize* common humanity with a constant war for ratings and population control.
* Van Von Hunter: Van Von Hunter always shows exemplary* fortitude* before nefarious* enemies like vampires, beasts and zombies, in the Kingdom of Dikay.

Image from Amazon
Warcraft: Dragon Hunt, Volume 1: Kaplan SAT/ACT Vocabulary-Building Manga
by Richard Knaak, Jae-Hwan Kim

“With a growing number of students taking the SAT and ACT and the college admissions process more competitive than ever, we wanted to provide students with a fresh test prep resource that will add some much needed fun to what can be a daunting* learning experience,” said Mark Ward, president of college prep programs at Kaplan. “The Kaplan SAT/ACT Vocabulary-Building Manga series will help build students’ test-taking endurance* and vocabulary knowledge, making them more confident* going into test day.”

Founded in 1938, Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions (www.kaptest.com), also a division of Kaplan Inc, prepares tens of thousands of students annually for the SAT and ACT, through classroom and online courses and materials, private tutoring and free academic events.

Image from Amazon
Van Von Hunter, Volume 1: Kaplan SAT/ACT Vocabulary-Building Manga
by Ron Kaulfersch, Mike Schwark

The Kaplan SAT/ACT Vocabulary-Building Manga series is Kaplan Publishing’s latest initiative in adapting to students’ learning habits. Kaplan also produces hundreds of book titles and test prep tools, including “SAT in a Box,” featuring 600 palm-sized flashcards in a compact box covering question types from each section of the SAT for students seeking wallet-sized test prep, and “SAT Score-Raising Classics,” featuring highlighted SAT vocabulary words and easily cross-referenced definitions in literary classics like Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, The Tales of Edgar Allan Poe and The War of the Worlds.

The Kaplan SAT/ACT Vocabulary-Building Manga series will be available wherever books are sold beginning in mid-July.