Complaint Review: BookRags.com - Internet

My initial email to Bookrags.com stated why I am unhappy with my purchase, "I am very disappointed in my purchase of Lesson Plans and Study Guide for Esperanza Rising. When I purchased this set, it stated it was for grades 7-12. I am a 5th grade gifted teacher and these questions are not at all thought provoking. No critical thinking is involved what-so-ever. I cannot imagine these questions being used in high school. The short essay questions are no different than the multiple choice questions. In my opinion, middle and high school lessons should involve some level of inferencing, or even address the amazing figurative language, or developing character traits, cause and effect, some mention of conflict or stuggle in this novel. Not to mention that vocabulary is not addressed in any way. I am highly disappointed that I spent $22 on lesson plans that I cannot use. Although it state that there is 141 pages of teaching material... majority of the pages are repeats to "include an answer key" that takes up nearly 45 pages and many of the pages are rows of answers that I could easily fit on one page. I am letting you know that your content is not appropriately labeled. This is not high school content, nor is it middle school content. I am also making you aware that your poor effort to remedy my concern in any manner has resulted in loss of all my future business and I will spread the word with my peers and via Facebook that your material does not even begin to address the common core standards at any grade level.   Your company is in the business of putting together garbage and selling it to teachers without any desire to understand the needs of a classroom.

Thank you for the word count. It is very valuable for understanding that the chapter abstracts are useless. The "As You Read "questions reference chapter numbers that students can't relate to since the chapters in the book are not numbered. The questions are regurgitated information with no thinking required.  The Medium quiz and tests are not open ended questions that require even limited critical thinking. The answer keys are half the page count (a one page answer key spreadsheet would suffice). The difficult Spanish vocabulary or any vocabulary at all is not even addressed.

I am hopeful that my feedback will generate more effort on your side in creating quality teacher study guides that meet classroom needs. I make $30,000 a year with minimal resources and buying materials that I cannot use is heartbreaking. Obviously these lesson plans and study guides were not created by educators.

I was told by a customer service representative that the small misleading preview that was provided should have sufficed and that there is no way to refund my purchase.  As other Ripoff Reports state, the material is poorl written with spelling and grammar errors.  I teach 5th grade and do not feel this would challenge even a 3rd grader, but the material was rated for grades 7-12.  I am disappointed in the lack of concern for reputation by this company.  I hope other teachers read my report and DO NOT PURCHASE anything from this company that does not stand behind it's junk products in any way!