Where does the apostrophe go in childrens books?

Q: Where is the apostrophe in childrens books?

Some plurals dont end in S. They include men, women and children. For these, the rule is to add an apostrophe then an S: mens, womens, childrens. But the plural of kid” does end in S: kids.

Q: Which is correct childrens or childrens?

Childrens is correct because this is the Possessive form and Genitive case of the Plural Noun children. Children is a Plural Noun that doesnt end in s or es. Therefore, the Apostrophe will be followed by s (s) after it to form its Plural.

rotaryphones wants to know: Where does the apostrophe go in "children's book"?

This is covered obliquely in the Possessives and Sibilants post, but it's worth addressing directly for greater clarity.

Índice Show

Where is the apostrophe in childrens books?
Do children's books have apostrophes?
Which is correct children's or childrens?
Are children's books grammatically correct?

The normal rule when forming a plural noun is to add an s to the end. The normal rule when forming a possessive with a noun is to add an apostrophe and s. The normal rule when forming a possessive with a plural noun is to place the apostrophe after the plural s and skip the possessive s; this avoids a messy s's ending.

"Hey, Frannie," Ray shouted across the bull pen, "some kid's mom is on the phone here."
"Well, which one of these
kids is she looking for?" she yelled back, exasperated by the chaos of eight 10-year-old witnesses zooming around the room.
"Uh ..." Ray checked back with the caller, then looked up. "Probably that one." He pointed to the quiet one reading in the corner. "She said he'd have his nose buried in some
kids' book." [not kids's]

Possessive apostrophes go at the end of plurals—easy!

Except ...

Not all plurals end in s. The plural of child is children. And because there's no messy plural s to worry about, you can add on the apostrophe and s to form the possessive as you would normally.

Fraser glanced across the room as well. "Oh, Through the Looking Glass—quite a classic children's book."

So rotaryphones has it right in the question! Check your noun without the possessive. Is it plural already? Then form the possessive with the apostrophe and s.

Conveniently, the plurals for woman and man are similar, which makes it easy to keep all the constructions parallel:

Fraser and Ray gave chase as they saw their quarry duck into a department store. By the time they got there, though, they weren't sure whether their pickpocket was in the men's, women's, or children's clothing department.

The apostrophe is out to get you. That innocent-looking little punctuation mark you learned about in elementary school has been plotting against you all your life.

It’s not like the hyphen, which is hard to master but equally hard to screw up. It’s not like the semicolon, which you can eschew altogether with no harm done to your writing. It’s not like the period, which quietly goes about its business ending sentences while confusing almost no one ever.

No, unlike every other punctuation mark happy to help your sentences run smoothly, the apostrophe goes out of its way to sow mayhem, tricking you into making mistakes you’ll then blame on yourself.

Sound paranoid? It’s the only possible explanation for why the plural possessive “children’s” takes its apostrophe before the S while the plural possessive “kids’” takes its apostrophe after the S.

And it’s the only way to understand why “Kim’s” can mean either something belonging to Kim or the whole clause “Kim is.” Pure evil.

Here are five ways the apostrophe tries to trip you up.

Who says, “Let us do laundry today”? No one. We say “let’s.” The uncontracted form is so rare that we’re more likely to associate “let’s” with “lets,” which is the verb “let” conjugated in the third-person singular.

“He lets his hair down.” “She lets the dog out.” That makes it easy to accidentally use “let’s” when we mean “lets.”

“If you want to know whose coming, just ask.” Did I mention the apostrophe has a co-conspirator? It’s in cahoots with your computer’s grammar-checker, which, if it’s like mine, won’t flag “whose” in place of “who’s” in a sentence like the first one in this paragraph.

“Who’s” with an apostrophe is a contraction of “who is” or “who has.” “Who’s there?” “Who’s been eating all the cookies?”

The other one, “whose,” is the possessive form: “Whose car is parked outside?”

Now flash back to your elementary school lesson on apostrophes. They’re supposed to show possession, right? “Bob’s car is parked outside.”

But “whose” and “who’s” turn that lesson on its head because the one without the apostrophe is the one that shows possession.

That brings us the pièce de résistance of apostrophe evil: its and it’s. These, too, turn the apostrophe-for-possession rule inside out.

The one without the apostrophe is possessive: “The dog wagged its tail.” The one with an apostrophe is a contraction of “it is” or “it has.” “It’s a beautiful day.” “It’s been great catching up with you.”

But “its” and “it’s” come up even more often than “whose” and “who’s” — so often, in fact, that “it’s” used as a possessive is one of the most common mistakes in the language.

Then there’s “your” and “you’re.” You can know the rules backward and forward and still get these two mixed up. It’s just so easy to type “your,” the possessive form, in place of “you’re,” meaning “you are”: “Make sure your on time tomorrow.” That’s an error. It should be “you’re.”

“They’re” and “their” get confused the same way, though, interestingly, “there” doesn’t seem to cause as many errors.

My favorite example of the apostrophe’s cruel intentions is seen in department store directories: First floor: men’s, women’s, kid’s. Oops. The rules say that when a noun is plural you make it possessive by putting an apostrophe on the end, as in the cats’ tails.

But there’s an exception. Some plurals don’t end in S. They include men, women and children. For these, the rule is to add an apostrophe then an S: men’s, women’s, children’s. But the plural of “kid” does end in S: kids. So the plural possessive is kids’, breaking ranks with men’s and women’s.

Sometimes it seems that no one can keep this one straight. You’ll see a “kid’s menu,” leaving you wondering who the lucky kid is. Or you’ll see a childrens menu, leaving you wondering what happened to the apostrophe. It’s all part of the apostrophe’s evil plan.

JUNE CASAGRANDE is the author of “The Best Punctuation Book, Period.” She can be reached at .

Where is the apostrophe in childrens books?

Some plurals don't end in S. They include men, women and children. For these, the rule is to add an apostrophe then an S: men's, women's, children's. But the plural of “kid” does end in S: kids.

Do children's books have apostrophes?

If the word is plural and the plural ends in s, simply add an apostrophe. If the word is plural and the plural does not end in s, add 's. A children's book means "A book for children". "Children" is a plural not ending in s, so you must add 's.

Which is correct children's or childrens?

Children's is correct because this is the Possessive form and Genitive case of the Plural Noun children. Children is a Plural Noun that doesn't end in s or es. Therefore, the Apostrophe will be followed by s ('s) after it to form its Plural.

Are children's books grammatically correct?

A story book, a picture book, a fiction book are all grammatical, but a children book is not, at least in the sense you mean it (It is possibly grammatical in the sense of a book about children, but is not in common use even in that sense).