DREYER'S ENGLISH (ADAPTED FOR YOUNG READERS)

The 2019 guide to grammar and usage from the copy chief of Random House is adapted for young readers.

Why should young readers care about usage? Because, writes Dreyer, “What you write and how you write it tells readers as much about you as a selfie. You don’t post every selfie you take, do you?” This observation sets the tone for the tweaks and massages made to refashion the proudly fussbudgety original for a presumably more skeptical audience. Most of the author’s adventures in copy editing have been excised from this volume, though many of the discursive footnotes remain. Also deleted is any mention of sex, even though the original treatment is fairly nonprurient, and excising gonorrhea and syphilis from the chapter on oft-misspelled words is arguably an irresponsible favoring of prudery over health literacy. But most of the changes appear aimed at making the content seem relevant: “Great writers of the twentieth century like Edith Wharton, Theodore Dreiser, and William Faulkner” is now “Great writers of the twenty-first century like Louis Sachar, Rebecca Stead, and Lois Lowry.” Some of these swaps smack of desperation: “ ‘Hey Ya!’ is a classic pop song by OutKast” instead of “ ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ is a classic pop song by the Beach Boys.” Long, syntactically complicated sentences abound, calling into question the whole enterprise. Readers eager to tackle them will be just as happy, if not happier, with the original.

A somewhat thoughtful but unnecessary adaptation.