Have you read any of the books published in the past few years about grammar and mechanics? Eats, Shoots, & Leaves by Lynne Truss ushered in a publishing craze, with scores of texts by grammar gurus featuring titles like Woe is I and Sin and Syntax streaking up the bestseller charts.

I have a confession - many of the books written about grammar and mechanics make me feel like a dope. I've read most of them, but I can never tell if I am laughing with the authors, or I'm being laughed at by them. There is a superior tone in too many of these books, a sense that people who misplace their possessive pronouns are not only ignorant, but stupid. For me, the insecurity goes all the way back to Strunk and White's Elements of Style, a book assigned over and over again by my college English professors. Try as I might, I could never connect with the authors' advice or distant, omniscient tone.

That's why Arthur Plotnik's book Spunk and Bite: A Writer's Guide to Bold, Contemporary Style is one of the few books exploring grammar and mechanics I return to over and over again when I want to spice up my writing, or think about teaching language structures to students. Plotnik's book is all about creating lively writing. His friendly tone invites readers, instead of subtly condemning them. Spunk and Bite reminds me that grammar instruction is really all about the pleasure of words, and the infinite ways they can be reordered. For Plotnik, a close look at words and language is all about fun:

Readers love surprise. They love it when a sentence heads one way and jerks another. They love the boing of a jack-in-a-box word. They adore images that trot by like a unicorn in pajamas.
Plotnik in Spunk and Bite, p. 10

I thought about Spunk and Bite this week because it's the one-year anniversary of The Big Fresh. The newsletter's title is an enallage, a term I learned from Plotnik - turning a noun, verb or adjective on its head to produce a novel usage.
This week, we've got a feature about terrific children's books for helping children understand and play with different language terms and usage. If you already speak the Queen's English, you may still find a title you like. And if you ain't never paid no nevermind to grammar in children's books, you might find the list is a fine starting point for creating a new book basket in your classroom library.

On a personal note, thanks for making year one of this newsletter such a success. I hope Choice Literacy can continue to earn your trust and readership each week for many years to come. Enjoy!

Brenda Power

Editor, Choice Literacy

www.choiceliteracy.com

Free for All

Franki Sibberson continues her series on revamping her word study program this fall. This week she considers how she might use children's books in word work and grammar study, compiling a booklist of children's literature that might spark good conversations about language terms and structures:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/416.cfm

The Grammar Slammer is a concise online ready reference of common grammar terms, errors, and examples of usage. It's a terrific site to bookmark and return to whenever you have questions about proper usage. And if you need a grin, they inexplicably include a recipe for clam chowder in their list of common language terms. Perhaps regular ingestion of homemade chowder leads to proper grammar?:

http://englishplus.com/grammar/gsdeluxe.htm

Reviews and further information on Spunk and Bite are available here:

http://tinyurl.com/ywxk5s

Only a couple weeks left in our PDPalooza Site License and DVD Sale. If you are considering a site license for your school or district, these are the best prices of 2007:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/346.cfm

For Members Only

Literacy Coach Carol Wilcox has two sons in middle and high school who aren't members of the "literacy club." In thinking about their needs as visual, action-driven readers and writers, she creates a dozen practical literacy activities linking books, drawing, writing, and the arts. These are all great activities for early in the school year to get to know students:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/413.cfm

Remember that first summer before you began teaching, when you faced bare classroom walls and bare bookshelves? Erin Ocon, ready to begin her first year teaching 7th and 8th graders, shares the inspiring story of how she spent the summer developing her first classroom library on a very limited budget. This short article would be a fun read in a mentor meeting with new teachers, or in an administrative discussion of the resource needs of new teachers:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/414.cfm

How can we stamp our rooms with the personalities of our students in the first few weeks of school? The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) have a few decorating suggestions in this photo essay - quick art projects and display ideas that can be completed with students in the first days of school:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/409.cfm

If you've recently paid for a membership at Choice Literacy, it can be overwhelming figuring out where to begin in exploring the 300 features available at the site. Many members find wending their way through the back issues of The Big Fresh in the archives is the fastest way to get a sense of the range of what is available at the site:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/department62.cfm

That's all for this week!