The Dragon Grammar Book: Grammar for Kids, Dragons, and the Whole Kingdom

Canadian author Diane Mae Robinson freely states `My mission in life is to inspire children to believe in the magic within themselves, to become heroes, and to accomplish great things' and to that end she is proceeding with her series of richly detailed imaginative fantasies focusing on a young princess who feels the need to be a knight - thus the perhaps confusing title of Sir Princess Petra. Diane earned her journalism diploma from the Schools of Montreal and an advanced diploma from the Institute of Children's Literature in Connecticut. She also teaches art and writing in addition to her own primary interest of writing her own novels. Though young and new to the field of publishing she has already been awarded honors and medals. Her books to date - SIR PRINCESS PETRA (3 novels in the PEN PIIEYU ADVENTURE Series), THE FOREST PAINTER each belonging to young adult fantasies. Now Diane turns to teaching – and ha selected to teach grammar (that disappearing art so often abused in the media and conversations as well as writing). Or as she states, ‘This book is not meant to be a comprehensive study of grammar but a helpful resource for those who need some of the basics in understanding word usages and proper sentence structures. Not all the grammar terms, their definitions, or usages are dealt with in this book.’ In her well-illustrated book she continues to se her beloved characters form previous successes to aid the reader. The organization and gradual advancement into concepts is well considered: Diane opens with grammar terminology (adjective, adverb, clause/sentence, conjunction, contraction, interjection, modifier, noun, participle, phrase, predicate, preposition. punctuation, subject/object, verb) and then the book blossoms into a teaching situation that is both informative and entertaining. While this book is visually one that young learners will enjoy, adults (and young adults) will find the information more useful that school textbooks. The figures from her previous books keep it light but make no mistake; THIS is a fine grammar lesson! Diane’s thirteen awards earned for her other books will soon be matched by all manner of awards for this very fine teaching tool. Grady Harp, January 18

When I first looked at The Dragon Grammar Book: Grammar for Kids, Dragons, and the Whole Kingdom, I thought, “piece of cake.” My degree is in English. My children are homeschooled. I see, and teach, this stuff all the time. I was very wrong about the book. Diane Mae Robinson has created a wonderful resource with this collection of often confusing rules for the English language. Robinson is also the author of a popular children’s series called The Pen Pieyu Adventures. She incorporates the characters from that series into this book to keep it interesting for kids of all ages. As she points out, even people who teach the subject have to regularly refresh their memory when it comes to certain rules of grammar. While this book is aimed at middle school children, it will become a regular on my bookshelf. I can see myself grabbing it frequently when I need to make sure I am using a word correctly or punctuating appropriately. The lessons in the book are very easy to read and understand. The explanations are written in a way that even the most grammar-challenged person can follow it. And after you read all the rules, there are practice questions in the book to help check your mastery of the rules. My favorite part of the book is when she offers explanations for the most confusing rules. I have learned these rules over and over throughout my life, and still ended up confused a few times. Robinson managed to make even the toughest rules easy to follow and, even a little fun. As much as I love the English language, even I have to admit that this is hard to do. The book begins with definitions for parts of speech. This is an important, and sometimes, overlooked step. Starting with the basics ensures that no one is left behind. Of course, most people know the definition of noun, verb and adjective, but how many people can definitively define squinting modifier or dangling participle off the top of their heads? My guess is not many. She then moves on to confusing words such as any more versus anymore and between versus among. These confusing word pairs are all too often used incorrectly. She covers those and so much more in this thoroughly entertaining manual. The quizzes at the end of each chapter really do help to make sure the reader has absorbed the lesson. It’s a quick, easy way to make sure it’s okay to move on to the next chapter. I really enjoyed this book. That’s not something I expected to say after reading a book about grammar. I am giving it a solid 5. It was well researched and well written. While I am not sure my kids would be as taken with it as I am, I do think it will become their go-to resource when they have a grammar question. I highly recommend this book for those with kids in school and people trying to learn English as a second language.

Nicely written, easy to understand but precise enough to improve one's English

As a junior high and high school teacher, I really appreciated the organized and gradual way the author sets forth the teaching methods in this book. The book starts with grammar terminology so the reader can easily flip back to this section when they need a refresher on the terms. The next section--Confusing Words--is a breath of fresh air to any teacher or writer. Then with each subsequent easy-to-follow chapter, the author builds on the previous chapters to gradually go more into depth on more complicated grammar rules. The book was very easy to understand and follow while covering all the common grammar rules that the average teacher, writer, student would need. The author's humorous writing, through her characters of the dragon, princess, king, etc., makes the book thoroughly enjoyable and nothing like the average torturous grammar book at all. I'd recommend this book for grade 7 through adults.

At first glance you could be forgiven for thinking, 'The Dragon Grammar Book: Grammar for Kids, Dragons, and the Whole Kingdom' is solely aimed at school children, however, the clue, as to the age of the intended audience, is in the second part of the title. The author, Diane Mae Robinson, will delight and entertain children with her tales of princesses, dragons & knights whilst becoming more informed about the nuances of the English language. However, I would also urge teens to take a peek at the in-depth tips, Robinson imparts, as they may be pleasantly surprised to discover, 'The Dragon Grammar Book' is a great revision aid that will help them to prepare for their exams. Adults, in the meantime, may like to use the book as a refresher course to assist them when helping their little one to complete homework; or as a reference book if they are studying English as a second language. If Robinson were to create a volume,-possibly an encyclopaedia-of all the terms and list them in alphabetical order, instead of chapter headings (which would save me oodles of time), she would be my go-to author when writing a story, synopsis, blurb etcetera.

It helped my grandson to do his homework in a fun way.

A good read but I was hoping it to be a bit colourful. I enjoyed reading but my 8 years old was not interested