Punctuation

Using the square format and Japanese-style cartoon illustrations familiar to fans of the Basher Books series, this little volume introduces punctuation marks and their uses. Grouped by function into four chapters, the personified marks introduce themselves in a paragraph or two. Briefly stated do's and don'ts for using them appear at the bottom of each page. Written with attitude as well as grammatical awareness, the first-person paragraphs are more readable than one might expect. Facing each page of text is a simple, colorful illustration portraying a single or paired mark, such as Exclamation Point, Double Quotation Marks, Chatroom Comma (appears before a quotation), Numbers Comma (separates numbers in a series), and Ellipsis. Possibly of interest to teachers but not integral to the book, the foldout punctuation poster inside the back cover can easily be removed using the perforated line near the binding. An informative and graphically bold addition to the grammar shelf.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist

Gr 3-8-After opening with information on sentences and capital letters, cartoon characters represent commas, colons, apostrophes, and other punctuation marks. Perky, first-person characterizations ("Straight up and down, I'm the party-hearty punctuation mark") combine with clear examples ("You're the best!") to form an effective and friendly guide. An enclosed poster adds visual cues for student follow-up. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.