Commas for kids
Finger-wagging Lynne Truss has reached down to the kindergarten set
(ages 4-8), to put them straight on commas, in
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas
Really Do Make a Difference! (Putnam Juvenile, 2006, with
illustrations by Bonnie Timmons; 32 pages). Now that Strunk &
White
has
been illustrated, can we expect a kids' version of it?
Go Away, Needless Words!
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According to the book description:
lluminating the comical confusion the
lowly comma can cause, this new edition of Eats, Shoots & Leaves uses
lively, subversive illustrations to show how misplacing or leaving out
a comma can change the meaning of a sentence completely.
This picture book is sure to elicit gales of laughter -- and better
punctuation -- from all who read it.
I raise an eyebrow at the better punctuation part. Let's see some
evidence, I say. Not that I'm particularly enthusiastic about
correct punctuation as a high priority for young children. But
here's a positive Amazon review from reader Robert Schmidt of Honolulu:
Examples: "Eat here, and get gas,"
versus "Eat here and get gas."
"The student, said the teacher, is crazy," versus "The student said the
teacher is crazy."
Now I'd say this is a book for, say, 4-6 year olds. No more than 6. I
think this is a book to be read to kids, not necessarily to have them
read to themselves. One, it is fun to read, and kids and adults can
joke about even more interesting examples of clever, contorted
meanings. Two, it is a book that plants a seed for kids and adults
seeing signs or other writings during the day that they can tease each
other about. And if it makes kids AND adults more aware of the power of
commas, so be it!
(I'm afraid that the comma really doesn't help the first example; the
causal-sequence reading is still easy to get.)
I haven't seen the book yet, so I'm still hoping the ratio of fun to
fodder-for-teasing is high.
zwicky at-sign csli period stanford period edu
Posted by Arnold Zwicky at August 15, 2006 02:47 PM