Product Description

"Aliki makes manners accessible to children through colorful cartoon-style illustrations designed to teach some of the basics....Her lively primer sparkles with examples....There's plenty to learn, plenty to look at, and plenty to share in a cleverbook that demonstrates the importance of manners while it makes learning them fun."--Booklist.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1056553 in Books
• Published on: 1990-10-17
• Released on: 1990-10-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 40 pages

Amazon.com Review
The wonderful Aliki Brandenberg has written and illustrated more children's books than many kids have read. (She's got 133 listings right here at Amazon.com.) This time she brings us a paperback version of her 1990 hardcover Manners, a cheery, funny dissertation on how and, more important, why to be a polite child.

A combination of hilarious, colorful illustrations, comic-bookish playlets such as "You Are Interrupting Again, Leon," some of what a grown up might call role-playing, and miscellaneous other gems, the book adds up to the best child's handbook on manners since the Goops showed up at the end of the 19th century.

[Offered for ages 4 and up, but useful to any child, family, or k-3 classroom.]

From Publishers Weekly
This popular and prolific author-artist here examines an important topic for children--good manners: how to achieve them and how to maintain them. Every page brims with etiquette tips, expressed by small-sized figures drawn in Aliki's customarily cheery style. If there is a problem here, it is one of excess: the dos and don'ts fly by so thick and fast that readers may have difficulty grasping them. A lack of organization may further confuse the book's users. The subjects are broached in no discernible order, and text is presented willy-nilly in captions under pictures and in cartoon-style balloons. One page bears the heading "Ouch," and depicts two girls strolling down the street as another girl approaches. The copy above the picture reads, "Here comes Alexa. / Let's ignore her," while two tiny birds below--they and several animal friends make pertinent and impertinent asides throughout--say "bad manners and bad feelings" and "Is Alexa going to go home and cry?" Cause and effect seem to be missing here, and the main issue glossed over. Though certainly well-intentioned, this book may prove more chaotic than constructive. Ages 5-up.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3-- From the engaging jacket to the final endpaper, and in a lighthearted, humorous manner, children can see the cartoonlike depictions of the acceptable behavior, with the boorish counteraction similarly depicted for purposes of comparison. Well organized into succinct areas, the book is cleanly formatted and presents colorful images to engage browsers. That "Manners are WORDS and ACTIONS that show others you CARE" is paramount. Readers will revel in the sheer fun of it all and will surely gain personal insights. Younger children will be better served by individual rather than group presentation because of some of the pictures' small, informative details. Peggy Parish's Mind Your Manners (Greenwillow, 1978) or Norah Smaridge's rhythmic Manners Matter (Abingdon, 1980; o.p.) can't compete with the cheerful, broad-based treatment this offers, nor will they spark as much interest in and discussion of a universal issue--to think of others before one's self. Culture, gender, and age are well represented, also contributing to the book's wide appeal. --Mary Lou Budd, Milford South Elementary School, OH
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Excellent teaching tool
Aliki's books are excellent teaching tools for preschoolers (and kids of all ages). Our preschooler loves to read this book. Each page has a different story about manners told in a comic-strip fashion. YOu can read just one or two in a sitting. The book is so well illustrated and communicates good behavior in such a way that children take it to heart. When our son demands something we ask him, "is that good manners?" The coolest thing is that he really gets it! It's this teaching tool that frees me from having to nag him! We just refer to the book. The other day he did threw something and hurt me. I asked him to apologize. When he refused, I got out the book and we read the section about causing hurt to other people and he whispered "I'm sorry." I love this book!!!

Children teaching children about manners
This is a really wonderful book. Aliki captures the readers' attention with both cute cartoon-like characters and very age appropriate text. My children have enjoyed this book very much. I believe their enjoyment, at least partially, stems from the fact that children help children figure out what is appropriate behavior. I highly recommend this book to parents seeking help teaching children about manners.

Excellent for young children!
This book is very entertaining for young children. It uses cartoons to get the point of manners across. I have read it to my four-year-old about five times (it's a long read for one sitting). Some of the manners actually rub off!