The Girl's Like Spaghetti

I am a proud member of the Spelling and Grammar Police, and I find it especially unforgivable when errors are made in materials targeted for children. So last night at Borders, when my daughter handed me a book with the above title, my first reaction was indignance followed by dismay that such a blatant error could make it through all the editors to the title of a hardcover publication.

Upon further examination, however, I discovered to my delight that the book was written by none other than Lynne Truss, author of the best-selling Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. In fact, its full title is The Girl's Like Spaghetti: Why, You Can't Manage without Apostrophes! and the cover illustration features a girl with noodle-like hair. The book is filled with wonderful drawing illustrating the difference between the phrases "The boys bat"/"The boy's bat"/"The boys' bat" and sentences like "Those smelly ones are my brother's"/"Those smelly ones are my brothers".

I didn't buy the book, because my girls are still too young to read, but it's a neat concept and probably valuable reading for the many adults out there who still haven't mastered the correct usage of "its" and "it's".