Commas, periods, excalmation points, question marks, colons, apostrophes, quotation marks: take your places. 10:00 A.M. Time to study us. Learn how punctuation marks work together to make reading and writing flow smoothly.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Check out the 2013 award winners for children's literature and illustration. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 1–3—Robin Pulver's clever picture book (Holiday House, 2003), illustrated with Lynn Rowe Reed's vibrant, child-like acrylic paintings, shows youngsters exactly what would happen if there were no punctuation marks. Mr. Wright's class discovers the value of punctuation and just how difficult life can be without the little fellows. Feeling distinctly unappreciated, the commas, question marks, periods, and apostrophes take a well-deserved vacation to Take-a-Break Lake, leaving the school in big trouble. Mr. Wright and his charges find that "Nothing makes sense without punctuation." The punctuation marks finally return, and the book ends with a list of punctuation rules. John Beach narrates in a gleeful, ebullient tone. Chris Kubie composed the sprightly music. This is that rare audiobook that truly makes the print version come alive. The sound effects alone are priceless, with homage to Grammy Award-winner Bobby McFerrin. If you've ever wondered what punctuation marks sound like, Beach provides hilarious voices and sound effects for each one. A masterful, creative, amusing, must-have production that simplifies the rules of punctuation.—Lonna Pierce, MacArthur Elementary School, Binghamton, NY END
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
From Booklist
Gr. 1-3. On the hottest day Mr. Wright's class has ever seen, the teacher gives punctuation a vacation! Insulted, the punctuation marks take off, and a few days later postcards arrive from Take-a-Break Lake. The kids want to write back, but they can't without any punctuation. Borrowing the unruly marks from the class next door, they write a letter begging the marks to return, a letter filled with usage errors that effectively makes their case. Childlike acrylic paintings on canvas "punctuate" the zaniness by turning the marks into characters whose banter exemplifies the marks' use. The messages on the postcards further typify usage (e.g., "Do you miss us? How much? Why couldn't we take a vacation sooner? Guess who?"). A straightforward list of punctuation rules rounds out this inventive and entertaining device for getting kids to understand usage, which proves that nothing makes sense without punctuation. Right? Right! Julie Cummins
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
101 of 106 people found the following review helpful
By Roz Levine
Format:Hardcover
"Day after day, the punctuation marks showed up in Mr. Wright's classroom. Day after day, they did their jobs. They put up with being erased and replaced and corrected and ignored and moved around. Then on the hottest, stickiest day the class had ever seen, right in the middle of a lesson about commas, Mr Wright mopped his forehead and said, "Let's give punctuation a vacation..." Those cruel kids cheered and ran out to the playground. The punctuation marks looked at each other in disbelief and grew angry, very angry. If the kids could take a break, well they could too. And with that, they rushed out the door and left school on a little vacation of their own. When Mr. Wright's class returned, they discovered a big problem. They couldn't read or write or learn. In fact, nothing made any sense at all without punctuation. A few days later, some rather unusual postcards began to arrive from Take-a-Break Lake..... Author, Robin Pulver's zany and engaging story is a lesson in disguise, filled with droll humor, clever wordplay, silly sound effects, and lively punctuation fun. Lynn Rowe Reed's bold, bright, and busy childlike illustrations are playful and entertaining. Together, word and art offer a delightful, manic romp that's perfect for story time, or as a help reinforcing grammar lessons. With a straightforward list of rules at the end to complete this manic, fun-filled treasure, Punctuation Takes A Vacation is a delightful crowd pleaser, and kids 6-10 may find that punctuation lessons will never be boring again.
50 of 51 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a great tool for showing children the importance of punctuation in a fun format. In this book a teacher decides to give punctuation a vacation. Postcards arrive and the reader has to guess which form of punctuation wrote it to the class. Children are able to make connections to the chaos of not having punctuation and how it impacts understanding. Fortunately, punctuation returns and classroom life is much improved. I recommend this book.
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
By Judy Freeman
Format:Hardcover
I've been using this book with teachers, librarians, parents, and, best of all, children, over the past year now, and it is a delight. Complex, wildly original, humorous, and meaty, too, this is one glorious read-aloud.
Lynn Truss is still on the Best Seller lists for her Eats Shoots and Leaves, for the grownup set, and Pulver's contribution to the genre is every bit as memorable. As you can see everywhere you read, people have trouble with the dreaded comma and apostrophe. Pulver has taken the sting out of punctuation and made those little marks our pals. When one becomes friends with periods, commas, and exclamation points, one tends to be much less careless about treating them in a cavalier fashion.
As for the hoo ha and hubbub about racial stereotyping in the book, debated on this site, this is an unfortunate distraction and an unwarranted criticism. Two male teachers in an elementary school! Wow! We should be cheering. Of all the many folks with whom I've shared this book, I haven't seen any reaction except laughter and sustained affection. OK, so maybe Mr. Wrongo is a left-brained guy who likes math better than language. So punctuation runs wild in his room. When I read this with several classes of second graders, they had a blast trying to correct the wacky letter Mr. Wright's class concocts.
We've made punctuation puppets, written giant sentence banners that kids punctuated with their puppets, and devised sound effects and hand signs for each punctuation mark. Every classroom teacher from grades 1-5, and then some, will find a memorable way to use this book. One tenth grade English teacher told me she read it aloud to her classes and they loved it. And one mom told me her kindergarten daughter insisted it be read to her, night after night, at bedtime. Just think what her dreams must have been like.
Pulver's warm and humorous writing will lead you to her other titles as well. I can't wait to see what she writes next.
Lynn Truss is still on the Best Seller lists for her Eats Shoots and Leaves, for the grownup set, and Pulver's contribution to the genre is every bit as memorable. As you can see everywhere you read, people have trouble with the dreaded comma and apostrophe. Pulver has taken the sting out of punctuation and made those little marks our pals. When one becomes friends with periods, commas, and exclamation points, one tends to be much less careless about treating them in a cavalier fashion.
As for the hoo ha and hubbub about racial stereotyping in the book, debated on this site, this is an unfortunate distraction and an unwarranted criticism. Two male teachers in an elementary school! Wow! We should be cheering. Of all the many folks with whom I've shared this book, I haven't seen any reaction except laughter and sustained affection. OK, so maybe Mr. Wrongo is a left-brained guy who likes math better than language. So punctuation runs wild in his room. When I read this with several classes of second graders, they had a blast trying to correct the wacky letter Mr. Wright's class concocts.
We've made punctuation puppets, written giant sentence banners that kids punctuated with their puppets, and devised sound effects and hand signs for each punctuation mark. Every classroom teacher from grades 1-5, and then some, will find a memorable way to use this book. One tenth grade English teacher told me she read it aloud to her classes and they loved it. And one mom told me her kindergarten daughter insisted it be read to her, night after night, at bedtime. Just think what her dreams must have been like.
Pulver's warm and humorous writing will lead you to her other titles as well. I can't wait to see what she writes next.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
No! No! No!
I had just bought a book on an Exclamation Point and it was great so my grandson thought I would enjoy the above book. Read more
Published 22 days ago by Marion A. Knott
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great to help children realize the importance of punctuation
This book was a great tool to use to help my son realize the importance of punctuation. I typed this book without any punctuation and let him add the punctuation. He is dyslexic. Read more
Published 26 days ago by Dana Lehman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book!
This is a good book for the classroom. This can be a hard thing for students to understand and this book makes it fun!
Published 3 months ago by Sarah Weaver
3.0 out of 5 stars
Nice Children book.
Amusing and nice and sweet. It was recommended by our school teacher for my son and it is really gives the perspective he needs to know.
Published 4 months ago by kambizT
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny and Useful!
This book can be a good introduction to a punctuation lesson with younger children. It gives a concise overview of what question marks, exclamation marks, commas, period, colon and... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Honest Reviewer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fabulous teaching tool!
This book is entertaining and educational! My students really grow engaged with this story and it is a great send off into a typically boring unit on grammar and punctuation. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Book loving teacher
2.0 out of 5 stars
Great Idea/Missed Opportunity
What a great concept for a children's picture book; unfortunately it doesn't quite come together here. Read more
Published on April 29, 2011 by VReviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Punctuation Takes A Vacation
Not a very good book to use to teach about punctuation. The title also doesn't make sense since the writing has all the punctuation and the theme doesn't go with the title.
Published on April 28, 2011 by Jane
1.0 out of 5 stars
Open your eyes.
I am sadly surprised that so many reviewers rated this book so highly, apparently oblivious to the blatant racial stereotypes. Read more
Published on January 16, 2011 by C. J. Nelson
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good book.... but an observation
As an educator, I applaud the fact that this book provides an innovative manner of viewing grammar, especially punctuation. Read more
Published on November 30, 2010 by mediafan
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
