Cover Image: Don't Dangle Your Participle

Don't Dangle Your Participle

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Member Reviews

Une façon très rigolote de transmettre un point de grammaire.
Les phrases sont amusantes et les illustrations associées parfaites.

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I thought that this was a great book to tell children about the structures of sentences.

My daughter is in Year One at school (she is 5) and she is learning all about this at the moment so this book was a great one to read with her and give her the understanding needed.

The illustrations were great too - it is 4 stars from me for this one, a fun way to learn about participles

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First and foremost, I would love to thank NetGalley, the author, and publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this advanced copy. Such a great adventure!. Recommended

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This children's book is directed at late elementary schoolers who are learning sentence construction. Participles are hard to explain, but Don't Dangle Your Participle does a solid job of both defining and proving how recklessly using participles will muddy your message.

I didn't think the illustrations were particularly engaging, as they seemed very 1980s in style. A goofy delivery is usually effective, but the examples were so exaggerated, they were more comical than relatable.

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I read this book to my three year old niece. Of course she didn’t understand “participle “ but she loved discussing what that meant. She laughed at the illustrations each page for some reason she didn’t want me to turn the page and then we would talk about the next and then that page was her favorite. So it definitely can be read to all ages. It just needs adapted discussion.

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Reminiscent in style and tone to Fred Gwynne's delightful books, Oelschlager attempts to instruct the younger set in the proper use of grammar, and mostly succeeds. I didn't like the first two introductory pages, and had I only glanced at those two in the library or book store, I'd have put this one back on the shelf. The rest of the book is much more fun, and seems aimed squarely at the intended audience with fun illustrations by Mike DeSantis that show proper and improper usage in silly ways.

Just another way to make learnin' fun.

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Loved this book! The description of participles was concise and clear. The topics for the sentences were interesting and fun. Very clear examples and great illustrations. The illustrator's note at the end was a bonus!

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I loved this book! It's hard teaching the concept of dangling participles to younger students. This book explained what participles are and how sometimes those participles can be left dangling. The funny illustrations were wonderful and really helped show how sentences can have a very different meaning when participles are inadvertently modifying the wrong noun. I teach elementary school, but I can see even upper grade level teachers using this book just as a joke to remind students about proper grammar.

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This was a fun, educational text for teaching children what participles are and how to use them in a sentence. It was clear and fun. And the illustrations were integral in conveying the meaning of the various sentence compositions.

Fantastic book for learning about participles.

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I tried downloading through various modes but still, I can't access the digital book. This is the first I'm facing such a problem; Haven't had it before though. ☹ Rating is not for the book!

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This is a cute book, and a clever way to demonstrate this grammar rule in a way that clicks for kids. The pictures are vivid and engaging, and sure to provoke laughs. I also liked the interactive challenge in the inner cover to figure out what sentence was represented by the picture (although I couldn't find the answer on the website as promise. I also found the cover clever - it shows yet another example for kids to try to figure out, while also tying in with the "dangling" in the title.
Some of the "corrected" sentences, though, are still awkward, even if technically accurate. The author always keeps the participle phrase at the beginning of the sentence, which means that there are a lot of awkward passive constructions. There is a certain simplicity to this approach, which helps to streamline the lesson, but many dangling participles are better fixed by rearranging the sentence - for instance, instead of "Falling from the sky, the rain was blocked by Kate's umbrella" (my own example, not from the book), a good writer might say, "Falling from the sky, the rain plopped onto Kate's umbrella," (sometimes the book does this, but sometimes it doesn't) or "Kate's umbrella blocked the rain falling from the sky." If these different methods overcomplicate things (and maybe they would), then at the very least, I would leave out the sentences that end up sounding particularly awkward, like "The dog was chased by Marvin" or "The balloons were grabbed by Suzie."
On the other end of approachability issues, though, I think the introduction is likely to go over the heads of most kids who really need this book. It jumps right in with terms like verb, adjective, modify, and clarity, without definitions - then declares, "Now that you know what a verb is..." There was no explanation of verbs themselves, though, only of the relationship between verbs and participles. I think it could be reasonable to assume that kids who are learning about participles already know about verbs and adjectives, but those also aren't very hard to explain in a sentence, anyway, and it would have been a good addition. And some of the other vocabulary, like modify, could easily have been replaced with less technical wording.
Overall, as a language art tutor, I think this book could be a helpful addition to my library (I read it as an advance copy ebook), but I would give my own introduction to participles and challenge kids to come up with additional phrasings for each example.

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The title is catchy and the reading is good. I like how the author explains what a participle is at the beginning of the book. Then the book is really just examples. The examples are creative, funny and the illustrations are great. As a speech therapist, this book is going to be recommended to others. This will help with those language students that have a difficult time with this concept.

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Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Don't Dangle Your Participle by Vanita Oelschlager is an amazing, high-interest children's book that teach people of all ages about dangling participles. The story shows several situations (some funny, some normal) about what will happen if you let participles dangle. For example, growling lions are normal, but what about growling people? According to the description, "Young readers will have fun recognizing this problem in sentence construction and learning how to fix it."

Overall, Don't Dangle Your Participle is a beautiful and helpful book that will teach students are dangling participles. I absolutely loved reading this book and see it as so useful. As an English teacher, I have had to teach students in high school about dangling participles before, and it was a struggle. I can't help but wonder how much better my lessons would have been if I had known about this book. If I ever teach this topic in the future, I will be sure to buy a copy of this book to use in my lessons. If you're intrigued by the description, I highly recommend that you check out this book, which is available now!

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As an English major in college, a childrens book with fun illustrations about the dangling participle is fantastic!

I would absolutely buy this for my children as it is a fun way to learn with a very important message.

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This is a useful book for explaining dangling participles to Elementary aged students (or older, as the case may be). The illustrations are engaging and the examples are amusing. It's a great addition for a classroom library.

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Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced electronic copy of this book. This humorous book, presented in the style of “Eats Shoots and Leaves” highlights the incorrect and correct way to use participles. Clever illustrations help clarify the meaning. I am looking forward to using this great book with my students.

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Fun and accessible grammar lesson punctuated with cute, engaging illustrations. Oelschlager and Desantis hit the mark with this academic read disguising it brilliantly as a children's book to captivate young readers. Great addition to any kids'/classroom/school library

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I am in LOVE with this book for so many reasons. It's colorful and appealing and would encourage elementary kids to stretch their language skills while keeping them entertained. As if that wasn't enough, I would love to have this in a middle school and high school classroom as an amusing intro lesson or review of dangling participles to help improve their writing. In both cases, the children and adults who are reading it would be enthralled and smiling. How many books can be used so diversely? What a great idea! I highly recommend this book be added to every school library!

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This was so cute I absolutely loved it. It was funny and had a great overall theme for children. I would highly recommend this and I will definitely be purchasing this for Christmas gifts!

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Don't Dangle Your Participle is a fun and humorously illustrated explanation of the use of the present participle and the importance of ensuring that they modify the correct noun in a sentence.
Eg. "While riding his skateboard in the park, a deer almost ran into Lester."
vs.
"While riding his skateboard in the park, Lester was almost hit by a deer."

The book is aimed at younger readers, and I must say that it is gratifying to see that grammar is being taught in primary (elementary) schools again, after enduring several decades of unpopularity.
I found Vanita Oelschlager's explanatory text and clear and well-explored using the several examples given. Mike DeSantis's illustrations were appropriately humorous, illustrating the hilarious situations that can result if participles are left to dangle. I believe this is a book that youngsters would find both amusing and educational when learning parts of speech.
I also particularly liked the appendix, in which DeSantis details the process he goes through in creating his watercolour illustrations.
I would recommend Don't Dangle Your Participle as a valuable teaching resource for primary (elementary) school teachers.
My thanks to the author Vanita Oelschlager, illustrator Mike DeSantis, publisher Vanita Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

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