Mark loved punctuation. For starters, it looked funky, and its symbols are understood in all languages. There’s a sign for an exclamation and a question, a dollar, brackets, an AND, an AT and an ASTERISK, as well as one for an ELLIPSIS…a dot, dot, dot.’ This special picture book cleverly combines words and visuals for a delightful dose of wordplay and fabulous fun with grammar. Punctuation Mark fills a gap in the market by crossing the boundary between fiction and fact; the content is educational in a cheeky, playful way.
I’m liking
Belinda Ellis writes clever books about language and we really enjoyed her previous book, Back to Front Bob. My five year old particularly enjoyed the silly word play and sense of fun. Punctuation Mark has the same sense of enjoying language and highlights the fun and complexity of the English language.
The pictures are full of life and fun and complement the text nicely. I particularly liked the way that the text is woven into the images.
This book is full of humour – both subtle and more obvious and is good fun for both children and adults.
The conclusion
Ooo English is a tricky ol’ language, eh?? Although my five year old understood most of this book, there’s a high level of assumed knowledge and I think it’s really better suited to slightly older children who have a bit more experience with the vagaries of English.
Still though, big thumbs up to Belinda Ellis for continuing to make the English language cool and fun for kids!
