Mar 15, 2004 | 32 Pages | 5-8 years
* “Pulver’s clever story moves along at a nice clip and makes its point without belaboring the matter. Reed’s acrylics-on-canvas illustrations are rich in color and texture, and add to the amusement of the story. A lighthearted choice to be read independently or used to introduce a language-arts lesson.”—School Library Journal, Starred Review
“Pulver, the author of the ”Mrs. Toggle” books, gives each punctuation mark its own personality. The quotation marks can’t stop talking, the colons are always telling time, and the exclamation points stand on their heads in excitement. A helpful listing at the end (”Punctuation Rules!”) summarizes everybody’s job. And Lynn Rowe Reed’s childlike acrylic paintings perfectly capture the mood of whimsical fantasy. Try to imagine a bikini-clad comma on water skis.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Pulver . . . has outdone herself in this ingenious take on learning. Everything from the punctuation marks’ postcards to the endpapers emphasizes the importance of punctuation in our everyday lives. . . . whimsical, child-like paintings put faces on each character, bringing them further to life as they cavort on the shores of the lake. What a fun way to teach; every language arts teacher needs this to punctuate their instruction, no matter the grade level.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Reed paints with a funky, naïf style using zippy oranges, teals, purples and cobalt blues. Facial features as elemental as jack-o-lanterns and bodies as rubbery as Gumby heighten the fun as the quotation marks sunbathe side by side, the apostrophe waterskis and the exclamation point goes tubing. . . . Little will children realize how much they are learning, between the verbal shenanigans and the eye-popping illustrations.”—Publishers Weekly
“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!”—Booklist
