Why use a curriculum when you can just read books with dangerously misplaced commas and apostrophes?!? My kids love these books and learn a ton about punctuation from them. This series of funny punctuation books can be a hilarious way to teach your kids the dangers of an improperly placed comma. Check out these books as we share these books in our Faves podcast episode.

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This series by Lynne Truss and illustrated by Bonnie Timmons is a huge favorite in our house, because the series’ books do just that - they put punctuation in places it should not go. My kids have never loved punctuation so much as when they read these books. Every year, my kids dip into these books for their fair share of giggles and fun.

What is it?

• About the Author: She is a former editor, television critic and sports journalist for The Times newspaper, and has written 8 novels, 6 non-fiction books, this series of children’s books, and more!

• This is a series of picture books, starting with Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference. The first book was inspired by the author’s original non-fiction, 240 page book called Eats, Shoots & Leaves: A No Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. This book shares her passion for the preservation of punctuation.

• My kids love the comic strip illustration style, with one window of illustration per page.

• One page shows a picture of a sentence, then the opposite page shows the same sentence with commas, periods, and more in different places - which completely changes the meaning of the sentence. Thus the picture on the opposite page is different as well. It’s such a funny twist - just by moving or placing a comma in a different spot in the sentence.

• There are four books, and we own three of them. Time to buy another one!

3 Reasons It’s Our Favorite:

1. My kids typically love to connect with each other while they are reading this book. They love laughing together, looking for each other’s reactions, and saying the words out loud with expression.

2. It teaches punctuation in a fun, creative, and organic way! I don’t feel like I’m actually teaching anything - instead, we feel like we are just enjoying the English language together.

3. The books play a little trick on the brain, and it takes a little analysis of the illustration sometimes to switch your brain’s gears. The books include explanations in the back pages to explain the switch of mindset in case you cannot figure it out.

How We Use It:

1. We gather together and read them aloud when we first buy them, like opening a treasure chest.

2. I keep them on the bookshelf in our school room/family room and every so often they catch my child’s eye, and the books get reread, shared, and laughed at together.

3. I have never taught a punctuation lesson with worksheets, a workbook, or lecture. Reading books, copy work, editing manuscripts, and these books are all we do!

More Ideas

• Try making your own silly sentence by changing the punctuation! It’s harder than it looks and is a great way to engage your older children.

• Say the words with no comma pauses to your child, and see if she can repeat the sentence with pausing in the proper places, or write it down with proper punctuation. Then show her the sentence and see if she matched it correctly.

Check out our podcast reviews of other faves here!

Do you have a favorite product we should know about? Tell us in the comments below!

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