#NetGalley Book Review: Don't Dangle Your Participle by Vanita Oelschlager

This is cute and I appreciated the fun lesson.
Don't Dangle Your Participle
by Vanita Oelschlager

Age Range: 5 - 8 years
Grade Level: Preschool - 3
Paperback: 22 pages
Publisher: Vanita Books (May 1, 2014)
ISBN-13: 978-1938164033
Genre: Children, Educational, Grammar, Writing
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0

Words and pictures show children what a dangling participle is all about. Young readers are shown an incorrect sentence that has in it a dangling participle. They are then taught how to make the sentence read correctly. It is done in a cute and humorous way. The dangling participle loses its way and the children learns how to help it find its way back to the correct spot in the sentence. This is followed by some comical examples of sentences with dangling participles and their funny illustrations, followed by an illustration of the corrected sentence. Young readers will have fun recognizing this problem in sentence construction and learning how to fix it.

Review:
I used to love to diagram sentences in English class when I was in early school years. (My son totally disliked diagramming even though he was an excellent student.) The beginning of this book explains the verb and the participle adjective to describe a noun. The authors then show how dangling participles change the meaning of a sentence, often making no sense or nonsense. The illustrations and text give many fun examples of a sentence in error and then its correction:

Incorrect example: Growling as they ate, the children gathered around the lions’ cage.
Correct example: Growling as they ate, the lions attracted the children to their cage.

The beginning technical discussion and even some of the examples may not work for very young children, so it is important to use this with the appropriate age group who are at this level of learning. The illustrations by Mike Desantis are active, cute and highlight the examples very well. The sentences are also fun, creating some very silly situations that children can enjoy.

I did feel that several of the corrected sentences were awkward. I think this is because there could have been a clearer written statement without using the participle. Setting that aside, I think this book makes a good tool to help explain the participle and correct use.

Source: 2019 NetGalley. This qualifies for 2019NetGalley and 2019Alphabet Goals.

#NetGalley Book Review: Blind Betrayal by Nancy Mehl

This is romantic suspense just as I like it.

Blind Betrayal (Defenders of Justice Book #3)
by Nancy Mehl

File Size: 6264 KB
Print Length: 322 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0764217798
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (April 17, 2018)
ASIN: B07879ZBG5
Genre: Christian, Mystery, Romantic Suspense
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

Deputy U.S. Marshal Casey Sloane has worked at the St. Louis Marshals office for two years and is given a routine assignment to help transport a reporter to D.C. to testify before a grand jury. Valerie, the reporter, was writing a story about an up-and-coming environmentalist who suddenly disappeared and, she later discovered, whose backers purportedly have ties to a terrorist.
When the seemingly ordinary assignment suddenly takes a shocking turn, Casey is forced to put aside her own feelings about the unexpected reappearance of a man from her past as she and two other Marshals take Valerie on the run. And as it becomes dangerously clear Valerie's testimony has even bigger implications than they knew, they'll do whatever it takes to make it out alive.

Review:
Deputy U.S. Marshal Casey is assigned with her partner to transport a reporter who is expected to be a witness against a terrorist, drug cartel leader. Casey is surprised when a colleague from D.C., where she used to work, is brought in as part of the transport team. E.J. had a tendré for Casey but hid it while she dated his best friend. Neither E.J. nor his friend were happy when Casey changed offices, walking away unexpectedly.

Before the escort team can get on the road, the Marshal’s headquarters is bombed. It soon appears that someone will go to a lot of trouble to get to the witness. Casey and E.J. need to sort out the tensions between them but first they are going to need to keep the witness alive and get her to D.C.

Ms. Mehl does a good job building the suspense and tension. I enjoyed the double conflict and tension in the story: the natural dangers of protecting a witness while running from the enemy and the dangers and struggles while running from the human heart. There are miscommunications that contribute to both problems. There are some faith foundations that are shared as a part of the characters without being in anyway preachy.

This was the third in a series but it read fine as a standalone. This is romantic suspense just as I like it. I recommend it to readers who enjoy romantic suspense and mystery.

Source: 2018 NetGalley. This qualifies for 2018 NetGalley Challenge.