17 Jul / Dreyer’s English (Adapted for Young Readers): Good Advice for Good Writing by Benjamin Dreyer [in School Library Journal]
Benjamin Dreyer is delightful – as both author and narrator. His witty charm, his utter devotion to his craft (despite his comical protestations of “I hate grammar”!) are as immediately, joyfully recognizable in the ears as on the page.
But, so much of Dreyer’s exacting erudition needs to be seen not just heard.
Take Chapter 2, “56 ASSORTED THING TO DO (AND NOT TO DO) WITH PUNCTUATION”: periods, commas, even maybe apostrophes are recognizable enough to imagine as he presents various examples; now consider hyphens, dashes (“in two flavors: em and en,” ahem) as they’re placed in the correct parts of phrases and sentences (six-year-old, New York–to–Chicago flight, “how to type them—I’m happy to reveal the secret”). Then imagine numbers/numerals, diacritics, italics, common spelling mistakes. Oof. Confused much?
Verdict: The ideal option? Choose the print with the audio. Dreyer absolutely is that engaging.
From the introduction: All the titles here are nonfiction; most feature difficult subjects including history, climate change, systemic racism. Some might ask, why expose younger readers to challenging, unpleasant, haunting truths? One of the featured writers, Hilary Beard, provides the consummate answer back in her introduction to The Burning:
“…the fact that something is upsetting to us doesn’t mean that we should not engage it. Facing the truth empowers us to understand our self, our neighbors, and our world more accurately; to make appropriate choices and decisions; to heal the past and present and build a more promising future. Together.”
Readers: Young Adult
Published: 2021