Rating: 
Summary: Great supplemental book for teaching grammar.
Review: I found this to be an excellent addition to the curriculum when I was teaching English abroad. If nothing else, it's a great book to bring into the classroom around Halloween, especially if you add some activities to the lessons. I don't imagine it would be very much fun to just hang out and read this book for pleasure, but it really helped me keep my students' attention in class.
Rating: 
Summary: Quite Possibly My Favorite Grammar Book!
Review: I hate reading about and teaching grammar; that's why I love this book. Gordon has transformed the boring rules of grammar into something unique and entertaining. My students are always pleasantly surprised when I give them Gordon's examples, and it helps all of us get through what would ordinarily be a grueling process. I think the illustrations for the example sentences are what make this book really come alive for the reader. It also helps that this book uses examples involving vampires, penguins, and hot flashes, things that we normally wouldn't expect to see in the same place. Gordon's book is also a great way to build vocabulary. Many of the words she uses are unfamiliar to the average college freshman, so I give my students extra credit vocabulary assignments from her examples. As previous reviewers have said, this book is by no means the best grammar book out there -- in some cases, a quick-reference guide may be more useful -- but it's one of the more entertaining guides.
Rating:
Summary: Scrumptious
Review: I have long held the notion that grammar really isn't as bad as it's cracked up to be. Ms Gordon not only proves my theory, but her darkly entertaining illustrations and sentences serve as the sugar that helps the proverbial medicine go down. Her information is accurate, her teaching style is swift and fun, and you'll walk away from this book with a smile on your face, a few auxiliary verbs in your pocket, and an overwhelming urge to buy a samovar. Run -- don't walk -- to your wallet and fetch your credit card right now. . .
Rating:
Summary: Walk Two Moons
Review: I thought that this was such a good book because it was well explained and it was a very good childrens book. Sharon Creech did a REALLY good job. I deffinitly recommend it. I hope you get the chance to read this book sometime.
Rating: 
Summary: Just didn't do it for me...
Review: I'm sorry, but I really did want this book to be great. The thoughts of an "alternative" grammar book got me salavating like crazy and I couldn't wait for my order to come through.However, upon sitting down to read, I was instantly disappointed. First of all, the introduction/preface seems to be written only for those who are familiar with Ms. Gordons work or previous books, which kind of puts newcomers off kilter before even starting. The margins are HUGE, and though the author encourages notetaking, I got the impression that there was a lot of stretching going on to make the book into a publishable size. The use of "unusual" characters is charming at first, but becomes distracting once you try and actually learn grammar. Also a lot of the sentences are repeated [ad nauseum], especially under the illustrations which seem to be the main focal point of the book rather than the grammar. This book reminds me of a wolf in sheeps clothing. It's trying far too hard to be "hip" and "different" by latching onto Goth trends to sell. In the end, all your left with is a clunky book of an irregular size that is more for display than actual education. Get it if you're into Goth type bells and whistles, pass if you're looking to actually learn something. - A.
Rating:
Summary: Just didn't do it for me...
Review: I'm sorry, but I really did want this book to be great. The thoughts of an "alternative" grammar book got me salavating like crazy and I couldn't wait for my order to come through. However, upon sitting down to read, I was instantly disappointed. First of all, the introduction/preface seems to be written only for those who are familiar with Ms. Gordons work or previous books, which kind of puts newcomers off kilter before even starting. The margins are HUGE, and though the author encourages notetaking, I got the impression that there was a lot of stretching going on to make the book into a publishable size. The use of "unusual" characters is charming at first, but becomes distracting once you try and actually learn grammar. Also a lot of the sentences are repeated [ad nauseum], especially under the illustrations which seem to be the main focal point of the book rather than the grammar. This book reminds me of a wolf in sheeps clothing. It's trying far too hard to be "hip" and "different" by latching onto Goth trends to sell. In the end, all your left with is a clunky book of an irregular size that is more for display than actual education. Get it if you're into Goth type bells and whistles, pass if you're looking to actually learn something. - A.
Rating:
Summary: Just didn't do it for me...
Review: I'm sorry, but I really did want this book to be great. The thoughts of an "alternative" grammar book got me salavating like crazy and I couldn't wait for my order to come through. However, upon sitting down to read, I was instantly disappointed. First of all, the introduction/preface seems to be written only for those who are familiar with Ms. Gordons work or previous books, which kind of puts newcomers off kilter before even starting. The margins are HUGE, and though the author encourages notetaking, I got the impression that there was a lot of stretching going on to make the book into a publishable size. The use of "unusual" characters is charming at first, but becomes distracting once you try and actually learn grammar. Also a lot of the sentences are repeated [ad nauseum], especially under the illustrations which seem to be the main focal point of the book rather than the grammar. This book reminds me of a wolf in sheeps clothing. It's trying far too hard to be "hip" and "different" by latching onto Goth trends to sell. In the end, all your left with is a clunky book of an irregular size that is more for display than actual education. Get it if you're into Goth type bells and whistles, pass if you're looking to actually learn something. - A.
Rating:
Summary: Goth Grammar
Review: In an essay from her collection Mama Makes Up Her Mind, Bailey White describes how she learned to get children to read. Teach them that they can find out really nasty, tragic things from books. Because despite what adults would like to believe, kids love that stuff. How else to explain the publishing phenomena of Goosebumps and Lemony Snicket. Karen Gordon seems to be using a similar tactic on the teaching of sentence structure with her book, The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed. (Now, that's a title.) In her introduction, Gordon states that she knows what "a dangerous game I'm playing" by illustrating the rules of grammar via "a menage of revolving lunatics kidnapped into this book." However, she persuades that by following their stories, we will "be beguiled into compliance with the rules, however confounding those rules may appear to be." She's right. This is absolutely the most fun I've had reading a grammar primer. The rules are written simply enough; this book's charm lies in its illustrative sentences--wonderful, gothic examples of subject and predicate, adjective and adverb, dependent and independent clauses. Sentences giving examples of a subject include: The persona non grata was rebuked.
His huge, calm, intelligent hands wrestled with her confusion of lace. She goes on to give examples of nouns: Person (eavesdropper, ruffian, Peter Lorre), Place (Aix-en-Provence, Omsk, Mars), and Thing (marzipan, scum, haunch); as well participles and gerunds. This is a thorough look at all the rules necessary for proper communication. The examples make for curious reading, and when the sentences are captioning the numerous classical paintings and woodcuts scattered throughout, often provoke a laugh.
Such as the simple picture of a lady's hand, with the legend "The hand that is languishing on the windowsill once was mine" (restrictive adjective clause); or the painting of the nude which illustrates the separation of independent clauses with a semi-colon and reads, "She wrapped herself up in an enigma; there was no other way to keep warm." We need to know how to use this language we have, and use it well. And while we're relearning the proper usages, why not have fun doing it? Karen Gordon thinks we should. As the final sentence in the book states: "You must beckon the transitive vampire to your bedside and submit to his kisses thirstily." Now that's a well-constructed sentence.
Rating:
Summary: A great addition to a reference library
Review: It must have been quite a challenge writing a book that would be predominately read by all of us stick-in-the-mud grammar teachers. I think Gordon does a great job of catching the reader's attention while teaching some very (I'm sorry but it's true) dry material. I teach it, and even I hate reading about it! By no stretch of the imagination is this the best book on grammar out. Nor is this the best book written on the subject. I would equate it to a grammar coffee break. It's useful, but also pleasant. If you want a hyper-organized, get the answer quick reference book this is a poor choice. If, however, you want a fresh source of ideas to present to your hyperactive, low attention span, immediate gratification students you may find this quite a bit more useful that diagramming you millionth sentence.
Rating:
Summary: The Grammer! The Grammar!
Review: It's a rare quality that a textbook - for that is, essentially, what Karen Elizabeth Gordon's "Deluxe Transitive Vampire" is - can actually entertain the reader as well. It's even more rare to find a book that actually makes something as dull and obtuse as English Grammar seem interesting and - dare I say it - fun? I was introduced to this book as part of a college-level grammar class that I'd been putting off until my senior year. Although I fancy myself a decent writer, I couldn't tell anyone what a gerund was, or how to diagram a sentence, to save my life. I knew the rules of grammar intuitively, but I just didn't know what they were called. I'd be lying if I said this book taught me, but it certainly set me on the right path, and took away a good deal of the dread of looking such things up. Illustrated liberally with a spattering of Victorian-style Gothic imagery, and incorporating semi-stories about vampires, debutantes, trolls, and tea parties, the Deluxe Transitive Vampire is a great guide to grammar, from the simplest rules about nouns and verbs to the most abtract, outlandish little "English-isms" in our language. It's a pleasure to browse through, and when you have to turn to it, it never fails to bring a chuckle (or a shudder). Deluxe Transitive Vampire belongs on any writer's shelf, between the Stunk and White and the Thesaurus.
| 
