Touchdown Nouns

Grammar comes to life in this unique series that uses entertaining sports narratives to teach language arts skills. Each colorfully illustrated title presents a fictional sports event through the eyes of TV announcer Buzz Star and a sidekick kid reporter. In stories designed to amuse as well as educate, press-box banter introduces amusing players and exciting action, while cleverly incorporating sideline coaching on how to identify and use the parts of speech.

Children's Literature

Football fans are bound to enjoy this tale of the Blue Ribbon Bowl. Sportscaster Buzz Star and his niece Lizzy, who is concerned that nouns are confusing, report on the game. As they announce the play between the Rockets and Tigers, Lizzy discovers that learning about nouns can be fun. Three short chapters reinforce the usage of proper, common, singular, plural, irregular, singular and possessive nouns. In addition, Lizzy and Buzz discuss the noun signals of a, an, and the. At the end of the fourth quarter the Tigers come out with the victory and Lizzy comes out with much knowledge about nouns. "Touchdown Tip" sidebars are scattered through the 32-page book and offer main facts about nouns. End material consists of the rules of nouns, an activity in the form of a letter, and the answers to the activity. Second through fourth graders will enjoy reading this book in the "Grammar All Stars: The Parts of Speech" series because of the lively and fun narrative used to reinforce learning about nouns. The attractive book will make a good supplement to language lessons. Reviewer: Nancy Garhan Attebury