Thanks NetGalley for the book and
Vanita Books in exchange for my opinions.
Teaching children about the proper grammar function of a participle, It shows the difference between proper participle placement, and hilariously improper placement with charming illustrations.
If you didn’t know before you will get lessons along with the kids that you won’t forget. Joys all round.

Vanita Oelschlager's Don't Dangle Your Participle is a perfect book for aspiring grammar nerds. It's grammar made funny and picturesque. At first the author explains what a dangling participle is. This bit is mostly for the parents who forgot their grammar lessons. For the children, the pictures will tell the story, and illustrate, for example, the fate of this poor girl: "Melting in the hot sun, Ida rushed to finish her ice cream." I would hate to melt before I've been able to eat mine. The artwork is cute and the idea is clever. Warmly recommended because it's rare that an educational book is this much fun.

I read a free copy that I got from Netgalley and wrote my own honest opinions.

I do not remember learning about dangling participles in school but I won't forget the lesson now! I love that the illustrations show exactly what the sentence is saying so that kids can see what they are learning. The examples were fun and I think kids will enjoy this lesson.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

After a quick once-over on what defines a participle, the book gives a series of examples via, "Here's the wrong turn your sentence makes when the participle modifies the wrong noun."

Art was perfect for the tone; would've liked to have seen more examples. The text during the explanation seemed a little heavy for the remaining content of the book.

Also, the concept of a "dangling participle" was never really explicitly explained. We saw examples where the noun-to-be-modified was missing, but the concept of "missing noun" was not explained initially.

Teaching children about the proper grammar function of a participle, It shows the difference between proper participle placement, and hilariously improper placement with charming illustrations.

As an Editor, Loved This Book!

I have been a freelance editor for years, and I can't tell you how many times I have run across dangling participles in my work. Quite often, they provoke laughter, which actually helps break up the day. So I was very curious to see what this book about dangling participles for children would be like. It is so funny and an absolute delight! There is a brief section at the very start of the book that defines what dangling participles are, shows how they come about, and explains how they can be resolved. I thought this first section was a little confusing, especially the first page. But the rest of the book makes clear what the introduction is trying to get across. What the author has done is create a sentence with a dangling participle and made an illustration of it, which shows the utter silliness the dangling participle creates. The next page shows how that sentence can be corrected so the participle is modifying the correct word. Most of these incorrect dangling participle pages are laugh-out-loud funny, and they certainly teach an excellent lesson about one sticking point of grammar. The illustrations are fun and whimsical. If you want to teach a little grammar lesson to your child that they'll actually enjoy, this is the book for you.

Very informative. Didn't know about that grammar rule. However, I don't think I run into those cases on a regular basis, so not sure if this is really much of a problem.

The pictures were really funny though, which helped to convey the point of why it is important to not dangle ones participles.

As an English teacher, I didn't like this book at all. I get the concept and the intention to make it fun and light-hearted, but it comes across as confusing and limiting. The idea of dangling participles is not something I ever learnt myself at school, nor something I've ever taught in my life! I think it is an unnecessary extra thing to worry about which might stifle one's creativity when writing, especially for the children that this book is aimed at. The examples given are even sometimes self-contradictory, often very awkward to read, and you finish the book more confused than when you started. There is a very awkward use of passive voice which is unnatural and sounds worse to me than the 'wrong' dangling participle sentences used as an example of what not to do.
I don't like to give negative reviews but I found this to be a waste of a book based on the concept. The illustrations are very nice and I have enjoyed other books from this author and publishing house.

Disclaimer: I am British, with a British opinion and perspective.
If dangling participles are important for American English speakers, or other nationalities, you can discount my review!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me read a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book is a brilliant example of “show don’t tell.” Many grammar books attempt to teach dangling particles, but end up with very confused readers.
This book shows the way that participles change the meaning of sentences. It is effective and playful. I look forward to adding a copy of this book to my classroom library.
I received a digital galley in exchange for an unbiased review.
#NetGalley

Don't Dangle Your Participle by Vanita Oelschlager is so fun and informative! The illustrations are so silly and colorful, while the text plays into the pun of "dangling" the participle. It teaches us how the meaning of a sentence changes based on (in)correct grammar. Oelschlager uses two similar sentences that end up having two very different meanings! I really think this entertaining book will keep children engaged and help them remember this lesson. I'd recommend it!

The very beginning was like reading a textbook without any exercises to clarify understanding. Some of the examples were cute and the illustrations helped, but as a former English teacher, I cringed at the inappropriate use of passive voice. I liked the idea, but the book itself fell short.

I love books that help teach grammar! This is absolutely a book that I would have in my library. It gives the incorrect and correct parts of speech for a participle. The examples make this book easy to understand and super helpful.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

A hilarious educational book about the confusion that dangling participles can lead to.

I don't remember learning about dangling participles before today but it is a lesson that I am unlikely to forget after this brilliantly illustrated book where we see skateboarding deer and melting children.

Really simple and easy to understand.

Thankyou Netgalley for giving me an opportunity to read this book.


This book was a really quick read for me.

You can easily make your kids learn sentences and participles

The use of illustrations was amazing

Looking at the pub date, um not sure how this came up as an option. The graphics are cute, but, as an English teacher, I had issues with this book. I see what they were trying to accomplish, but the sentences were barely better when the participles were no longer dangling. It just didn’t work for me.

This book does exactly what it sets out to do. It teaches us how the meaning of our sentence can change based on the grammar. The author constructs two similar sentences with two very different meanings. The images are humorous and will help children engage and remember this grammar lesson.

I would recommend this book for any elementary school teacher or any library. I likely wouldn't buy if for my child at home even though it is an enjoyable and useful book!

The publisher provided an ARC through Netgalley. I have voluntarily read this book for review, giving my honest personal opinions and thoughts

This is a wonderful educational grammar book for children, teaching them what participles are and how to use them in a sentence, with easy to read text and delightful illustrations. I highly recommend this book for kids in preschool through third grade.

I wish there were more books like this one! These are the treasured ones to share with your children -- so hard to hit both fun and educational.

My favorite example: “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.”

My son will write sentences like that and then try to defend them with, "But you know what I mean!" I can say "Yes, but....." all day long, but a deer on a skateboard makes the argument far better than I could.

The illustrations are wonderful. It will be a great, fun book to teach children their grammar. I wish we had something like this when I was young!

A playful way to teach kids how to correctly write sentences. By showing a funny picture of the wrong way first, it cements the idea (and the importance) of how to write right.