Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference!

After Lynne Truss blessed us with Eat, Shoots & Leaves:Zero Tolerance, she came back with round two for the children. This wonderful picture book focuses on the (mis)use of commas, or rather how their placement can significantly alter the meaning of a sentence. The book has 12 sentences that are

Show More

allotted two pages each. For each sentence, one page has the correct comma usage and an illustration to depict the sentence. On the opposite page is the same sentence with an improperly placed comma and the illustration that depicts the new, often bizarre meaning. At the end of the book is a recap of the sentences and notes on how the technical aspects of the sentence changed. For example, a sentence may read, "After we left Grandma, Mommy and I skipped about in the park." The comma separates the independent from the introductory clause, and as the illustration depicts, Mom and daughter skip around the park after leaving Grandma on the park bench. The next sentence reads,"After we left, Grandma, Mommy and I skipped around the park." With the addition of another comma, Grandma joins the list of skipping individuals in the park. This is one of the more tame examples, but it's one that I see misused very often. The book takes a humorous approach towards punctuation, and it could be great to use with younger children to show just how important commas are.

Show Less

This book clarifies the importance of using commas by showing the difference via pictures. What I really like about this book was that, at the end, the author specifies why the positions of commas make a difference in each example. A very clever, cute book that I would use even for helping high

Show More

school students understand the significance of punctuation.

Show Less

Useful and fun way to teach grammar. You could use it as part of a writing center. It effectively gives examples of two sentences that are exactly the same except for punctuation changes. It shows how important punctuation is in giving meaning to sentences. Students could also use it for ex. of

Show More

types of wordplay they could use in their own writing. Each student could write a few sentences and see how punctuation marks can actually change their meanings. Important to teach how punctuation can positively and negatively affect all writing.

Show Less

This book is wonderful for showing kids about traffic lights, stoping to look both ways before crossing the street, noticing things and to listen! This book is great for kids.

Great kid-friendly version of Lynne Truss' original!

I actually gave this abridged version a higher rating because I thought it was important to reward (in any small way I can!) a book that has the potential of positively effecting children's language and grammar skills.

This book talks about commas specifically. It Shows how commas really do make a difference in sentences. At the back if the bok there are explanations to how and why the commas are used they way they are.

Lynne Truss offers a humorous way to address teaching kids about the uses of commas in writing and how this effects the meaning of what we are reading. Kids will love this book for its funny illustrations which serve as different interpretations of sentences that are defined by the comma placements

Show More

in them. In this book, Truss offers explanations for the grammar lesson taught about commas and teaching tips for how best to introduce this text to kids. The purpose for commas is clearly stated, and it is very clear that they are the grammatical focus for the text.

Show Less

This book is a fun way to show children the importance of punctuation marks. It shows the way that words and sentences change meaning when commas are not used correctly, instead of just teaching the rules of grammar.

This book could be used in conjunction of a library program centering around

Show More

grammar and its correct usage.

Show Less

Shows how a comma changes the meaning of a sentence, and why they are important.

Retelling: This book gives examples of how the same sentence can be made to mean something totally different if you change the commas. It shows humorous pictures to illustrate the point.

Thoughts and Feelings: I would like to read this book to my dog, students. I would like to read this book to my

Show More

dog students.

Read this book slowly and more than once.

Show Less

This book is very informational for children learning proper grammar and things of that nature. This book explains the different uses of commas and how to place them correctly in a sentence to make that sentence correct. It proves that a comma can make the meaning of a sentence change just by where

Show More

you place the comma. Great book! Even helpful for me to read!

Show Less

This is a great book for helping students understand the importance of commas. Each page gives the same sentence twice but with commas in different places for each. There is a picture that illustrates what the sentence means so students can clearly see the difference.

Has anyone ever wondered about the importance of commas? Commas are crucial because commas can turn the meaning of a complete sentence into something completely different. Teaching grammar is imperative because one needs to be able to communicate correctly with other people. "Eats, Shoots, and

Show More

Leaves" is an excellent book that maps out the very clear cause and purpose of commas in a blunt way. It is a quick and fun read for children. Come join the panda on his wild adventure to tell the world how commas make a difference in the English language!

Show Less

A fun book that can help children and adults use commas properly. The illustrations are fun to look at with themes that carry through the text.

Truss addresses a problem faced by most writers; in my classes, we call it comma drama. For reasons unknown to this ELA teacher, students recite different mantras they learned from previous English teachers about comma usage, such as, "Put a comma wherever you pause," or "Always use a comma before

Show More

a coordinating conjunction." While the last rule is true, many students don't know the difference between a coordinating conjunction and just a plain conjunction, so high school teachers end up with students who are clueless about commas. Truss's sentences and illustrations show students how the omission or inclusion of a comma changes the meaning. Comma drama is something I workshop regularly with my students, and I use this text to help illustrate particular points of comma usage. Students really like it and tend to say, "I didn't realize one little mark made such a big deal!"

Show Less

A book that shows the importance commas make in a sentence. This books shows the correct and incorrect ways commas are used and when used incorrectly it can change the meaning of a sentence. This is a book that should be used in English class no matter what the grade level may be. Commas are always

Show More

misused and this book can help teach the correct way to use commas.

Show Less

Awesome book that really shows the importance of commas. This book is simple and helpful and really gets the point across about commas. This book can definitely be used in an English and in my opinion, even in the pace of a textbook.

This book explains the different uses of a comma, and how to use them correctly in sentences. The author uses excellent illustrations to show the reader that moving a comma around can drastically change the meaning of a sentence. There is a short introduction where she describes how the comma is

Show More

widely misused. At the end of the book, there is a section called "Why These Commas Really Do Make a Difference!". In this part, she shows smaller images of the previous pages and explains the rules and reasoning as to where the comma should go. This is a very helpful book on a very complicated topic.

Show Less

I'm awful at using commas. Whenever we discussed them, while I was in school, I usually spaced out because it just seemed like an extra detail to remember. If only my teacher would have used this book! I actually used it in a theatre class I'm teaching. We're discussing open scenes, where they are

Show More

given lines but they must develop their own scene. While we were defining open scenes we discussed "beats" or "pauses" in theatre, the use of punctuation tells you when to take a "beat". This book fit perfectly with that lesson.

Show Less

Summary: Illuminating the comical confusion the lowly comma can cause, this new edition of Eats, Shoots & Leaves uses lively, subversive illustrations to show how misplacing or leaving out a comma can change the meaning of a sentence completely.
This picture book is sure to elicit gales of

Show More

laughter—and better punctuation—from all who read it.
Teaching ESL: Great tool to use to teach ELL/ESL students grammar with pictures, easier to understand and more fun than using text book..

Show Less

This is a great book to use when teaching commas- it really gets the point across to students why commas matter.

Summary:
This book discusses the use of commas by showing how the placement of commas can change the entire meaning of a sentence.
Instructional Use:
This is a great book to illustrate this concept to students and use in a mini-lesson on comma usage. Correlates with NAD Reading Standard LA.4.RI.3 and

Show More

Language Arts Standard LA.4.L.2.

Show Less

Based on an adult book with the same title, this abbreviated version demonstrates how the placement of a comma can drastically change the meaning of a sentence.

This is a really funny book that shows how meaning can be completely changed by improperly placing a simple comma. I like to use this book with my seventh graders as a teaching tool. I use my document camera to share a couple pages of the book for a short warm up activity. Our favorite is the "Eat

Show More

here, and get gas, and "Eat here and get gas." (You need to see the pictures to fully appreciate this one...:)

Show Less