Review: Don't Dangle Your Participle by Vanita Oelschlager

Don't Dangle Your ParticipleVanita Oelschlager, author
Mike Desantis, illustrator
Vanita Books

For some reason I thought of the dangling participle as a junior high/high school grammar topic. As author Vanita Oelschlager and illustrator Mike Desantis make clear, grade school students can learn the topic as well.

The book opens with a illustrated grammar puzzle:  What dangling modifer is presented by this picture? The cover also serves as a similar puzzle although it is not mentioned. The answer is supposedly on the author's website (I couldn't find it).

Next, it explains what a dangling modifier is and illustrates the possible humorous misunderstandings along with the correct understandings.  Following the explanation are several examples to reinforce understanding and potential pitfalls. Including the puzzles there are ten examples: eight explained, two that have to be figured out. It's nice that not everything is explained, but the book allows readers to work things out for themselves.

Profits from this book are donated to charities, especially toward multiple sclerosis, which the author's husband suffers.  From the site:

"VanitaBooks donates all net profits to The Oak Clinic for Multiple Sclerosis and other charities where 'people help people help themselves.' "

You can view a sample here.