Problematic grammar in books

I just looked up Writing Tales and am very disappointed with what I saw in the sample lessons for level one.  I was quickly reviewing the material when some exercises popped out at me.  Pages 12 and 13 have exercises I would say have no correct answer available.  Oh, I know which answer is supposed to be correct in each.  However, I look at those and see unnecessary punctuation and hanging clauses.  In fact, I noted to my husband just the other day how much more punctuation, especially commas, is used in modern children’s literature compared to that of 50-100 years ago (e.g., The Story About Ping, Harry the Dirty Dog, James Herriot’s Treasury for Children, Wind in the Willows, etc.); the added punctuation doesn’t usually add value.

Does anyone else feel this way?