SUBJECT: 5/5
WRITING: 5/5
OVERALL: 5/5
My daughter is 9 years old, and grammar as a subject is fun but also confusing and tricky to study, often causing queries about why we use one thing and not another. When I came across this book published by Hachette India, I grabbed it, hoping she would enjoy it, and yes, it was an instant hit with her.
What is the book all about?
In Grammar Land, everyone must obey Judge Grammar, where parts of speech are noblemen who take the stand and claim the words that belong to them are used appropriately.
By giving all the parts of speech personalities like Mr. Noun, Mr. Pronoun, Sergeant Parsing, Mr. Adjective, and Dr. Verb, grammar is taught and explained in such an interesting way that my daughter was easily engaged and absorbed from the very beginning. She kept laughing and chuckling throughout.
Through the medium of storytelling, the story starts with Judge Grammar calling all parts of speech to come before him, where Sergeant Parsing will question them. In turn, they can claim their right to titles and words, and if any disagreements occur, the matter is settled once and for all.
We start with the chapter on Mr. Noun, where his true identity and characteristics are highlighted in a fun dialogue manner. Very smartly, it distinguishes between words that are confusing to kids. For example, it explains how ‘kindness’ is a noun but not ‘kind,’ thus clearing the doubt very well.
It even explains why some nouns are proper and some are common. Mr. Noun gives compelling answers to all these questions in front of the entire court, making it very satisfying to read.
Next comes Little Article, who finds himself very poor as he has only three words and uses only a noun (where their uses are nicely explained: “a” before vowels and the letter “h”). The chapter on Mr. Pronoun and why it came to be used is very funny. My daughter enjoyed reading about how Mr. Pronoun relieves Mr. Noun from being overworked and the various words in Mr. Pronoun’s repertoire.
For us, the best chapter was Mr. Adjective, as he was a big chatterbox and a gossip, using words (e.g., ugly, beautiful, naughty) before nouns. When adjectives are explained in such a way, a child is never going to forget what an adjective is!
Why is it recommended, and what are my thoughts?
Each chapter in Grammar Land ends with an exercise related to that part of speech, which is comprehensive and crystallizes the concept well.
This book is ideally meant for kids in grade 2 and above for solo reading, with some assistance to younger kids where grammar has just been introduced. It will be of utmost benefit to kids who take time to understand and grasp concepts, especially those with dyslexia and those in the ADHD spectrum.
I highly recommend and advocate that this book be added to all school and educational institute libraries and read to the kids while covering the relevant grammar topics.
Can’t wait to read it? Buy your copy of Grammar Land using the link below.
