This is a hilarious book that gives examples of how the placement of commas can totally change the meaning of a sentence. The illustrations are really funny as well, which help students visualize the drastic effects of misplacing a comma or not using it correctly. Another great feature of this book is a section in the back that explains the grammatical difference between each of the examples, providing excellent instructional opportunities.

Really cute book for kids. Adults will chuckle, briefly.

"Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference!" is a children's book delving into the world of commas in a pun filled and insightful way. The pages facing each other are made up of the same words, but with commas placed in different spaces. The illustrations match the sentence's true meaning. For example, one sentence would read: "Slow, children walking", while the other read, "Slow children walking." One is clearly depicting a cross walk with students walking across while the other is children moving at a slow pace while walking. This book can show students the power punctuation and grammar has on perspective. Everything you say and write shapes how people perceive you and punctuation has the power to completely alter other's perception of you.
After reading this text to students, I would have them create their own sentences modeled after the ones in "Eats, Shoots & Leaves." We, as a class, will unpack the qualities that allow the sentences to work both with and without the commas and create a master list for students to work off of. Students will write five sentences and select their best one to send to the editor of "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" as their authentic writing audience.

This book can provoke some giggles, thanks to Bonnie Timmons' lovely illustrations. The opposing pages feature two differently-punctuated versions of the same sentence, with vivid differences in how the scene is illustrated from the addition or subtraction of a single comma.

It's basically a book attempting to continue the whole: "Let's eat, Grandma!" versus "Let's eat Grandma...." approach to pointing out the importance of punctuation with humor.

If you want a funny way to teach kids about commas, this is definitely your chance.

My son really enjoyed this book and the illustrations. He liked to figure out the diffferences between the sentences. I liked reading it with him too. We also covered the second sentence and tried guessing where the commas would be placed.

The illustrations are great in describing and visualizing what a difference a comma can make. The explanations in the back are helpful as well.

Yes, children will understand this. They don't need the grammar explanation in the back, and they don't need to read it as a companion to the adult version. The pictures show the difference quite clearly. And memorably. I would buy this for classrooms of children aged 8-12 for sure, and encourage everyone else to read it from their libraries.

I also think it would be fun for a class of students to make up their own pairs of sentences and to illustrate the two versions themselves. A child who has done that will never forget to be careful of commas, and therefore will communicate more clearly.

I do give it only three stars, not four, because I do have some quibbles. For example: "Becky teased the boy with the fluffy duck" sounds to me just like "Becky teased the boy, with the fluffy duck." If I were writing a story about Becky and that boy, I wouldn't use *either* sentence, but would reconstruct the scene to make it clear which person had the duck in the first place.

I highly recommend you spend three minutes reading this, if you're at all interested.

Eats, Shoots, and Leaves
Author: Lynne Truss
Reading Level: ages 5-9

Truss, Lynne (2006) Eats, Shoots, and Leaves New York: Putnam Juvenile

This book is about why punctuation matters. Naturally, when playing with commas, things can get funny quick. Children will get a kick out of this book, and adults could enjoy this tamer experience to Eats, Shoots, and Leaves as well.

This book would be a great tool for English lessons. Even though it's geared towards very young children, I feel this book could be a great instructional tool for Middle School children who are beginning to write formal papers.

The art is simple, yet wonderfully illustrated. It's a wonderful book. A must for a teacher to include in his/her classroom.

Kait loved the panda joke, obviously, and the pictures make the point of how commas can change a sentence’s meaning.

This book cleverly teaches the value of commas, and what happens when they are misapplied. Each spread is has the same sentence on each page with two different comma placements; cartoony illustrations above these sentences shows the difference in meaning between the two. For example, "look at that huge hot dog!" shows a 12-foot hot dog being grilled at a barbecue, while "look at that huge, hot dog" shows a giant sweaty dalmatian. The author's succinct introduction is perfect. There is no attempt to explain or cover every rule regarding commas, but students do get a sense of its functions as they read through the book. The final spread in the book shows a side-by-side comparison of each page with an explicit, technical explanation of the effect of moving the commas around. Perhaps it would be nice for teachers to have as a reference, but for child readers, I think it is unnecessary and even a bit confusing.

"The Girl's Like Spaghetti" by Lynne Truss, which uses the same technique to teach about apostrophes, is equally enjoyable.

The thing about Lynne Truss' picture books is that while they provide comical examples of punctuation mishaps, the joke will be lost on anybody that really NEEDS the lesson. The examples highlight some very tricky nuances of the English language, including dual word meanings and varying sentence structures. This would just be an exercise in frustration who doesn't already *get* the rules of using commas, or anyone trying to explain it to them.