The Full Stop that Got Away

Frank is a full stop. He quietly stops things because that’s what a full stop does. However, when a dragon called Dee takes over, things get out of hand and Frank decides he has had enough. But without a full stop, how will things end?

What a wonderful book! ‘The Full Stop that Got Away’ manages to celebrate both the joy of imagination and the power of punctuation in one fabulously funny story. There is so much to enjoy and discuss here- this is definitely a new favourite!

On the punctuation side, teachers can have great fun, using Frank to remind children of what a full stop does and how important this ‘round and small’ punctation mark is for making sense of written text. Of course, by saying that Frank never asks questions or shouts, the story introduces the use of question marks and exclamation marks, but these are not the only punctuation marks used in the telling of the tale, brilliantly illustrating a variety of these and how they can be used in context of the story. There is so much scope for fun and games to be had here!

However, the story also shows the importance of a dash of imagination and creativity when it comes to telling a great tale. Dee’s enthusiastic additions and details to Frank’s very dull sentence story add great life and excitement…although she still needs his help to bring things to a close! The illustrations are equally brilliant, perfectly capturing Frank’s expressions, Dee’s cavortings and everything in between.

Fabulous fun for home and school! I’m off to plan how to use this now!

The Full Stop that Got Away

Laura Baker, illustrated by Nathan Reed

Scholastic ISBN: 978-0702310225

Publishing 13th February 2025

You can read my review of ‘All the Wonderful Ways to Read’ here.