Like the title? I’ve been spending some time on developing titles that catch reader interest. Thanks for allowing me to experiment on you.
Last week some of the kids at my kid’s school put on a play which was a composite parody of several high profile movies and TV shows including Star Wars. Written, directed and performed by kids, it was smart and– wait for it– funny! Yes, ha, ha funny. I genuinely laughed out loud, especially when Darth Radiator did battle against Puke and Yogurt with Life Savers . Maybe it’s the eight-year-old in me.
It didn’t stop there though. Those kids also amused the grammarian in me. Take this scene for example:
Storm troopers arrive and start firing their weapons.
Yogurt yells: “Puke, on the floor!”
Puke pantomimes vomiting with plenty of sound effects.
The scene continues with Yogurt giving a lecture to Puke about comma usage. Since she put the comma after Puke, she explains that she was addressing him before commanding him to the floor, not commanding him to “Puke on the floor.”
The scene reminded me of one of my favorite books about commas. What? You don’t have a favorite book about commas? Then you should check out EATS, SHOOTS & LEAVES by Lynne Truss. It comes in two versions, the 240 page adult version and the picture book edition (even more fun: grammar with visual aids). The links will take you out to Amazon FYI.
In hindsight, I would probably have said, “Puke! Duck!” but then who knows what would have happened next. . .
The kids’ parody sounds a little like Mel Brook’s Space Balls. It has Yogurt too, and instead of a Luke named Puke, it has Barf as a stand in for Chewbaca. They don’t use lifesavers though, or a lesson on commas, but they do have Pizza the Hutt!
Best comma book ever. The author has a whole series of grammatical picture books too.