JuniorBookWorm.com

Perfect Punctuation

Perfect Punctuation is not a book aimed at American children. A pop-up picture book devoted to commas and colons could only work in a system where babies are learning their ABC's.  Don't get me wrong. There are a lot of merits to the English system. The English win hands down to the Americans in knowing how to use our shared language  and how to spell it.
    I am an American. I studied English Literature and taught English in Japan, Belgium and England. This is the first grammar book that has ever made sense to me. It is brilliant!!! This book uses the pop-up genre in so many clever ways. It has pull downs and pull ups, windows and doors. A skier illustrates a dash, a penguin's footprints help explain ellipsis. I think that this should be an essential teaching tool in English classrooms. The children will not be offended, but positively embrace the volume tabs and all.
    I do think it would be useful to have hanging around American English classrooms, though, because a confused and bored third or fourth grader could lead through it and be illuminated.
    The Elements of Style was recently illustrated by the great Maira Kalman. This book is for an older audience and contains Strunk and White's original text. But unlike the original Kalman has illustrated the sentences that have been diagramed in the text. They are beautiful, amusing and thought provoking (about our terrific and complicated language).

George Saves the World by Lunchtime

I ordered George Saves the World by Lunchtime by Jo Readman and Ley Honor Roberts expecting to write a cynical little piece about how PC-ism has gone too far. But this picture book written by folks from the Eden Project really isn't bad. In fact, it should be disseminated by the council or through nurseries. It will never become a beloved picture book that one re-reads endlessly. It is a book that raises awareness in little children (and their parents)about what they can do in their daily lives to help the environment.
One can read it in two ways, just like with the Magic School Bus books. There is a simple and amusing story about George and there is the side bar with all sorts of facts and figures. Those facts are all user friendly and would appeal to self righteous 6 years (the same ones who tell their parents not to smoke and eat at McDonald's).
The illustrations look like a combination of cute illustrations and recycled bits and scraps cut up and pasted on. They work well.
I've got to run and empty my compost box into my outside dalek looking compost heap container. Westminster gives them away for free.