Blackboard Blunders: Spelling Slip-ups and Homework Howlers

by Richard Benson

Children are at their funniest when they are trying to be serious, and their earnest attempts at mastering the English language are a veritable goldmine of unintentional humour.

The book is packed with hysterical examples of silly spelling and wonky words, from the charming to the ludicrous, and from the profound to the downright X-rated.

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 7, 2009

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

Perhaps only rating Richard Benson's anthology of student (of children's) English language usage mistakes with but one star is a bit overly harsh and critical on my part, since I have indeed laughed at a select few of the examples featured by Benson in his Blackboard Blunders: Spelling Slip-ups and Homework Howlers. And I also do well realise that collections of errors of usage can and do easily become dragging and therefore also more of a reading chore instead of an entertaining reading pleasure simply because it really does tend to get more than a bit tedious to be confronted with and by over one hundred pages of basically the same type of reading material over and over and over again, as yes, collections of language errors pretty much always (at least in my humble opinion) do morph into becoming annoying and frustrating for casual reading fun because of the extreme repetitiveness of the presented and featured nature and the contents of ALL such collections (and Blackboard Blunders: Spelling Slip-ups and Homework Howlers is most definitely no exception with regard to this).

However, albeit that ALL blooper collections are repetitive and thus have the unavoidable tendency to become rather boring the further along one moves textually with reading (which is also why I generally do not read such books straight through but space them out into short and manageable chunks of text), the majority of the collections I have read to date have still been for the most part and generally amusing and diverting, have featured legitimately, naturally humorous and entertaining examples of language errors (and where my primary complaint has thus and of course been that the same old same old feeling of the featured usage gaffes can certainly become a bit annoying, their inherent funniness notwithstanding). But sadly and unfortunately, legitimate humour is what is pretty much almost completely missing for me with regard to Blackboard Blunders: Spelling Slip-ups and Homework Howlers. For yes, I have only found less than three to four percent Richard Benson's featured examples in Blackboard Blunders: Spelling Slip-ups and Homework Howlers actually and truly funny, and that a sizeable majority of Benson's inclusions in fact feel as though Benson is not trying to present to his readers the attitude that children, that students make entertaining and funny mistakes with their assignments etc. but rather that these gaffes and that the children who make them are stupid, naive, silly and deserve to be roundly and pretty vehemently denigrated (and which feeling is in fact further augmented by the fact that Blackboard Blunders: Spelling Slip-ups and Homework Howlers also focuses entirely on children and elementary and high school students, that adults according to Richard Benson obviously are seemingly immune from making ANY funny and ridiculous English usage errors).

And therefore, because I personally just do not like Richard Benson's general attitude and that Blackboard Blunders: Spelling Slip-ups and Homework Howlers is not only presenting the draggingness inherent of all or at least of most blooper collections but shows a collection of language usage error examples that are mostly just not all that funny, just neither engaging nor entertaining, (and poking nasty fun), sorry, but my rating for Blackboard Blunders: Spelling Slip-ups and Homework Howlers can and will only be one star and only deserves a one star rating ever.

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of 'Blackboard Blunders' is quite funny in parts but whilst accepting that children will be prone to misspelling or misinterpretation as they learn to master the English language and record their thoughts, there seems to be too many of a profane nature to be really true. I am not suggesting that some of these may have been made up to 'enhance' the appeal of the book, but I am not totally convinced that some of the many, what appear to be Freudian slips included in the collection are genuine.

Having said that the book does have its more amusing moments. One such is in the 'History' section when we read about Joan of Ark, whose unfortunate demise is well recorded but it is almost a laugh out loud moment to read, 'Then Joan of Ark met her end. She was burned as a steak.' Lovely but not very tasteful to the palette! And on the taste theme, how about these instructions, 'You can make toast by putting bread in a toster [sic] or by putting it under a girl until it is done.' And an amusing illustration of a girl standing on a piece of steaming toast even accompanies the quote.

'A ship's window is called a pothole' - beware! - is an understandable slip as is the youngster's comment after holidaying, 'We spend two weeks in grease every year' - and an appropriate illustration makes it even funnier. All I can say to that is 'Grease is the word'!!!

One child's ambition 'I would like to be an accountant but you have to know a lot about moths'; perhaps the youngster would be better being an entomologist! And someone else with an interest in nature writes, 'I like to pick up smells on the beach and keep them in my room' - pooh!!

And finally, among this little book of frippery, if you wondered about this question, here is the answer, 'The Easter game of egg rolling started in debenhams and cornwall [sic]'. Well, I never knew that!

[Felicity · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this at my mum's and needed something light to read before going to sleep.

This book is hilarious and includes many blunders from children's home work and school work. I couldn't stop laughing at some of them. The best ones were where incorrect spelling created a very dodgy story!

An excellent read in lockdown the sequel.

[Thorn MotherIssues · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really only got this because I was baffled that our library system ordered it since I didn't think books about kids' spelling/grammar/whatever errors were cool anymore. Turns out it's also British, so I really, really have to wonder who's going to grab it from our library and laugh so hard about a child writing "chaffage" instead of "chaffinch." I'm not saying I wasn't amused by any of the examples, but it sure was a weird choice!

[John Naylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are a lot of books on similar themes. Kids trying to spell words and getting them wrong in almost amusing ways. This one contains a lot of innuendo. It just tries too hard to be funny. All the mistakes could possibly be genuine but it doesn't matter if they are.

I can understand the appeal of these books. I just think that they offer nothing new.

[Sally · Rating 1 out of 5]

A poor gift for an infant school teacher

[Pippa Baugh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not funny at all. Couldn't read all of the writing

[Linda Humberstone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This little book will make you grin, snigger and laugh out loud sometimes. Unlike some, I don't think it is offensive to be amused by children's misspellings etc., on the contrary, I applaud their attempts at writing these little passages. We have all been there and needed to master the integral idiosyncratic rules of the English language and those who find this book offensive would perhaps be happier reading the Oxford Dictionary.

[Bill Fish · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the introduction to this book is a warning that you could be laughing hysterically while reading. Take this warning seriously. I read this in the break room at work, and tears were running down my face from my manic outbursts of laughter. Trying to hold it back, sweat was beading up on my head, and my nose was running. Since I was not reading aloud, I must have looked really strange, and I hope no one noticed how horridly amused this book made me. Well worth the read, just do it in private.

[Plum-crazy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixture of "quotes" from children's homework. Most of the "hilarity" comes from mis-spelt words, using an "a" instead of an "o" for example & getting " they found the remains of a Roman fart", or getting completely the wrong word as in " My mum falled down the stairs and was lying prostitute on the ground" - credit for correctly spelling the wrong word though!

Admittedly quite a few did make me snigger slightly but are they genuine? I'm not sure...

[Charlotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vermakelijk maar het lijkt soms wel bedacht door iemand en niet alles is grappig.

[The Lady Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny if you're British. The jokes don't all work in American English. So prepare to laugh hard at britishisms!

[Megan ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another funny collection from Richard Benson. These are quick but amusing reads.

[Gina Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book of silly student mistakes and smart alec answers.

[BookWithAView · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of gems in here. Slightly repetitive and questionable that some ‘quotes’ were perhaps not from a child.
Amusing.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some were funny, but it got a little repetitive.

[Mike Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essentially a collection of spelling errors made by children that you can read and feel smug and laugh at them because they don't have as good a grasp of spelling as you do. I got bought this because I'm a teacher but I have to be honest, there's some genuinely funny things in it:



"The best dinner is spagete bolonase. Its main ingredents are pasta, sause and minge meat."



Heh heh. Minge meat. Like from a lady's part.



That's pretty much the level of the book. I enjoyed it.

[Mehsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a hilarious book, no clue if they are real or not (you never know after all). But it was a really brilliant book, some of the errors weren't that funny and more like, yeah that can happen.

I would recommend this book to everyone who likes blunders, spelling, grammar and funny things.

[Jazzhunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny as! A quick read and good fun. A good antidote to the news.

[eve · Rating 5 out of 5]

HAHAHAHA. Oh my gosh, this book is A+ :))

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kids come out with the funniest things sometimes and this book contains many examples of this along with classic spelling mistakes. Brilliant :o)

[Ruby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good choice for a quick light hearted flick.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite funny. Examples were more to do with the mistakes made by children as part of their growing up. Interesting, but not necessarily outrageous.

[Niks Eehee · Rating 4 out of 5]

giggles galore

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hilarious must-read for all early years teachers.

[Iris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite funny in parts, as you really couldn't come up with some of the strange mistakes that kids make sometimes. The fonts are chosen to look like children's handwriting, but some of them take it a bit too far and are actually pretty hard to read. Personally I also couldn't help feeling a bit doubtful about the authenticity of some of the picks, e.g. are kids these days really being taught about the details of the nervous system before they even know how to spell "brain"? Still good for a chuckle or two.