Babble! And How Punctuation Saved It

How many of us cringe at Facebook posts or emails in which the reader is left to find the meaning in strings of words flying by without any separation or delineation to indicate their purpose? Without the marks that punctuate thought and conversation, the words become like babble.

In Babble!, prolific children’s writer Caroline Adderson gives children (and adults) an easy way to remember how and when to use punctuation marks. She tells the story of a village without punctuation, one in which people don’t know if they’re talking out loud or thinking. The narrative is entertaining as the villagers learn and grow; they are immensely grateful to learn the contribution a comma can make to understanding when they contrast:

I love cooking my family and my cat but not necessarily in that order

with

I love cooking, my family, and my cat, but not necessarily in that order.

Babble! would be an excellent illustrative example to teach children in a classroom setting. It can also serve as a teaching tool for families who want to introduce younger children to the mechanics of language. For children, it’s a chapter book they will be able to master and learn from.

American illustrator Roman Muradov, whose editorial and graphic art has appeared in such publications as The New Yorker, New York Times, Criterion and Vogue, has drawn spare, appealing line drawings with a touch of whimsy; the characters have a touch of innocence as they reach up to catch the punctuation and grasp learning. The drawings flow, leading the reader to turn to the next page. The punctuation marks are coloured in pink when they are introduced and then turn black as the lessons are learned. Quotation marks are thrown in the air to capture dialogue, setting it apart from the rest of the text. Exclamation marks become important tools to rescue a drowning baby, thereby illustrating their rare use.

The “Afterword” describes more punctuation marks - parentheses, dashes, ellipses, semi-colons and colons. This section would have been an opportunity to include the definition of the word “babble” and, even though the origins of the word may not be directly related to the biblical myth about the Tower of Babel, to use it as a teachable moment for children. “Babel," meaning "Gate of God", comes from Akkadian (Mesopotamia), whereas “babble” has Germanic origins and is defined as “to chatter.”

Nonetheless, Babble! will make a useful classroom tool and an enjoyable independent reading book for young learners.