Linda Newbery’s 2010 novel, Lob, is not only a gift to readers but also to teachers everywhere.
The problem of teaching and the difficulty of learning about punctuation is that it is all too quickly whipped out of context and learners are plunged into meaningless, repetitive tasks. This is where a richly crafted book such as Lob becomes a gift to teachers. Read this:
The noise juddered through Lob’s bones.
Stop…stop!
Head-crashing
Mind-bursting
Thought-snapping
Heart-booming
Feet-clamping
Bone-jarring
Sense-crazing
MADNESS…
Now there’s an extract to get you thinking about hyphens. It doesn’t show us everything about how hyphens can be used but it’s a good place to start.
Let’s get writing. Think of a noise that you find really annoying. Write a list of your own hyphenated compound words which show us what the sound is like and how it is behaving. Maybe add some ellipses too…
Writing Box 