Etiquette Books

This is really a heartwarming story. Both children and adults will love it for the message it sends and for the adorable characters and story. One of my 4-year old's favorites and mine too!

The book begins "Ruthie loved tiny things..." When she finds a tiny camera at the playground, she loves it so much that she refuses to give it back to her friend Martin, who claims it's his.

An argument ensues. Ruthie says "It's mine."
"Give it to me," said Martin. "It's mine!"
"It is not!" exclaims Ruthie.
"Is too!" Martin insists.
This is classic repertoire between two squabbling children.

Ruthie runs to her teacher and lies about getting the camera for her birthday. Later on, she begins to feel misreable. She tells her parents what happened. They encourage her to "do the right thing."

The next day, Ruthie admits that the camera isn't hers. The teacher understands. Martin understands. And the story ends happily.

A cute story with an important message. I've read it to children as young as age 3.

Ruthie loves little things, so when she finds a tiny toy on the school playground, she can't believe her luck - even though it belongs to someone else. She insists it's hers - but knows it's really not... trouble is, the lie she tells gets bigger and harder to deny all the time. Picturebook readers will find plenty to recognize in this warm story of lies, truth, and sharing.

I thought my 2.5-year-old daughter would never go for a book with a pedantic title instructing her that "sharing is fun," but we have read this book more than 50 times (really!) since taking it out of the library yesterday.

The book presenting sharing in a non-threatening way: not every special toy must be shared, and your turn lasts until you are finished. This is excellent advice for parents, too! Young children should not be expected to share absolutely everything, nor should they have toys taken away from them when they are in the middle of playing. I'd love for all the parents of my daughter's friends to read this, too, because parents with inappropriate expectations make sharing much harder than it needs to be.

Good message. We have several books from Joanna Cole and we like all of them. Enjoy!

My son is 2, and Joanna Cole's books have been very helpful to his development. He has loved "I'm a Big Brother" and "My Big Boy Potty," both of which helped him with big transitions in his young life. So after trying a not-so-good sharing book called "I Can Share," by Karen Katz, I decided to see if Joanna Cole had written anything better. Sure enough, she had!

This book is developmentally appropriate for a child who can understand simple story books. My son is a bit advanced for 2, but I think this book would be good for any child between 2 and 4. It features a little boy who is having a play date at his house, and addresses the importance of sharing, taking turns, and playing together cooperatively. It is a happy, friendly story with nice drawings and kid friendly, simple language. My son loves it, and it's really helped him learn how to behave better at play dates. I am forever a fan of these terrific books!

I loved this book because it is exactly the voice of wisdom you need when you're planning a wedding: smart, down-to-earth, funny (but never flippant) and--while respectful of wedding traditions--by no means beholden to them. At a time when weddings have more potential than ever to become surreal, this book is a great way to keep your footing.

It's utterly modern, in that it acknowledges frankly all the weirdo issues that come up (a dog as a best man? a bridesmaid who grew too fat for her dress?), but is grounded in an understanding that the rules of etiquette still apply whether you want to go formal or free-form. And, furthermore, that etiquette is not a punishing, restricting set of conventions, but time-tested guidelines that really do make everyone's wedding experience more comfortable.

I particularly liked the "Dear Elise" questions from real people that end each chapter...they have a wonderful "oh my god, what are they going to ask her next?!" quality that is quite suspenseful. And the advice is terrific.

I wish I had this book when I planned my wedding. Elise MacAdam's advice will help brides cut through all of the conflicting and outmoded advice about wedding rules and etiquette so they can focus on planning the wedding that's right for them, not the one that would make Emily Post happy. Elise tells you all about the rules so you can decide which ones you want to ignore or break. I think this will be my go-to engagement present for friends from now on.

Something New is different from other wedding books in that it sheds light on all kinds of sticky situations that come up, that people don't normally talk about, and it gives you a road map for how to handle yourself. I also found it uplifting and think that in the end, it will help brides put their dilemmas into perspective and focus on what's important. I'm going to give it to all my engaged friends from now on!

This is a very user-friendly dinner and hosting guide. Infused with a Los Angeles, bohemian-chic, wine-glass-in-hand vibe. In addition, Bob is one hot tamale.

The Joy of Cooking is a great cookbook, but The Surreal Gourmet's style makes it fun to read and try recipes. The recipes are popular favorites presented in an easy-to-follow format. At the end there are drink recipes, basics (stock, pesto, etc), and tips on setting up your kitchen, even music recommendations. The book lives up to it's title with cool illustrations and a refreshing style that is definitely surreal compared to other cookbooks.

This guy is a blast! Not one to be turned on with entertainment gourmet TV types, this guy is exceptional. Tuning him in on FoodNetwork several times and really enjoying him and his creativity approach and the fun he has with food and serving it takes me back to my inspiration to enter gourmet --- Galloping Gourmet.

Galloping to Surreal -- this is great wealth of inspiration! Recipes and music and suggestions and great photos and the adventure club and alternatives --- it all makes for one rockin' cookin' adventure.

Check out the likes of "Champagne Rissoto" or "lobstercapecodstyle".

Try and you'll go back for more, forsurereal!

Normally I'm skeptical of "how-to-parent" books, but this one actually delivers what it promises! As a parent, I found this book to be a realistic, sensitive approach to helping kids develop good manners. I'm definitely going to check out the rest of the Go Parents! series based on this book.

This is a delightful humorous book dealing with everyday situations. Every parent can relate to many of the examples used in the book. My children are now grown but the issues dealt with in the book are the same now as then. I wish the guide had ben available to refer to when I was raising my children. Now it will serve as a guide for my grandchildren.

Thank You. Finally someone has written a useful as well as funny book on teaching (or trying to) your children good manners. The book offers excellent and practical advice on a host of issues that every parent confronts on a daily basis. The illustrations are hilarious, the writing is insightful, and was obviously written by someone who's been there, done that. Miss Manners for the new millenium

This precious little piece about a porker points out both the good and the bad. It is an absolutely fun read and the illustrations are terrific! Ann Clarke, children's book author of People Are So Different! based on tolerance and understanding.

When you think of manners, usually the last thing that you think about is pigs. You get a notion in your mind of a pig rolling around in the mud or digging its snout into the slop and making a mess. I think, though, that the choice of pigs to demonstrate good (and bad!) manners in this book was a perfect choice. Children, including mine, are naturally drawn to pigs, which I believe is the reason for the popularity of Charlotte's Web and Babe. Just seeing a picture of pig dressed up as a teacher on the front of the book was enough to take this book off the shelf and put into our library bag.

My family and I really enjoyed that the author looked at both good and bad manners. The human mind often needs to see a positive and negative connotation to truly grasp an idea. It also gives the parent an opportunity to discuss why something is considered "good manners" and what can be improved in the situations where "bad manners" are exhibited. The author covers a good deal of the "manners" that parents try to instill in their children, but in a fun way for the whole family!

To top things off, the illustrations in this book are wonderful! They tease the imagination to see animals playing human roles. Also, the emotions of the animals seemed to be expressed through the style and colors of the background and the writing on the pages. Then, of course, are the subtle things on each page that entice you to spend time carefully looking at each page. On every page there are small things that are sometimes overlooked at first, but quite enjoyable when found! The use of colored newspaper pieces in the background as everyday objects was ingenious and added so much appeal to the book. This book is a work of art that is useful in teaching manners!

I really liked This Little Piggy's book of Manners. I teach Kindergarten and it was a great introduction to manners and etiquette without beating them over the head with it. The rhymes were great and easy enough for the kids to remember. We also loved the vibrant and colorful illustrations of Nancy Wolf. The situations in the book gave way to much discussion about how we are to act if we expect to have good manners. My personal favorite picture is of the little piggy eating lunch. We liked the phrase Utterly disgusting. We were pleased with the little piggies.

This book was a favorite of mine growing up and now my three boys love it. It is great for early readers as well as pre-readers who are learning their alphabet. A thoroughly enjoyable book!

If you can find the hardcove of this, buy it for your toddler/crawler. The pictures are great, colorful, full of detail. The expressions on the faces will delight parentes as they read this over and over to their child.

I recommend the hardcover, because both my 1-5 year olds banged this around for nearly 7 years; the softcovers won't hold up to that kind of use. But, if that's all you can find, get it anyway. Both you and your children will love it.

Children learn to read by recognizing (memorizing) increasingly large numbers of words on sight (developing a reading vocabulary). A book like this is one that progresses in a cadence (is singable) and thus, easy to memorize. A great book for new readers, because as they memorize while looking at the book, they begin to recognize and add new words to their reading vocabularies. They don't even realize they are doing it. How do I know this? Well, I am in my mid twenties, and I can remember almost all of this book, though I haven't seen it for about 20 years. I remember reading it over and over. It was one of the first books that I learned to read. Just the other day, I woke up reciting the opening line from the book, and decided to try to find it. I would highly recommend this book for parents trying to interest their kids in reading. It is one that you won't get tired of, even though you might read it about a thousand times!!

This is a must read for all of us fathers who can't quite get it right...I've stumbled through two pregnancies, constantly getting in the way, and ALWAYS saying the wrong thing! This book helped us with the third in ways I never imagined. It opened up a healthy dialogue between my wife and I, and helped me become a helpful, supportive husband. On top of that, it was a fun read!

After my wife's pregnancy, a friend of mine got me this book - and I wish I had it before. The anecdotes and 'guidelines' would have helped me and my wife cope a lot better. And the good humor would have made the pregnancy so much more fun!!

An emotional rollercoaster. A must have. FIVE STARS!!!

i laughed until my sides ached! the book contains hysterical little snippets about dealing with life during pregnancy--- a great shower gift.

Another delightful book by Sonia Levitin. This one is on party etiquette for young kids. Fun and silly illustrations get the point across as elephant gets ready to go to her first party.

The book starts with elephant's friend asking if she can bring a guest to Brenda's birthday party. When she gets the okay the preparations begin! Next there are many questions and answer opportunities regarding the proper attire to wear and what sort of gift to bring.

Some of the topics discussed include: How to get ready for the party and what type of manners you should exhibit when you bring a guest (stay close, introduce your friend and say something pleasant about your friend) and tongue-in-cheek discussions of how you should behave when introduced to the adults, if you break something, swing on the drapes and other wild animal behavior!

Taking turns, sharing, not being greedy, leaving pets alone, not snooping, washing hands after you use the toilet and saying Thank You are some of the other important points covered. The book even discusses that your gift stays with the birthday person!

The illustrations of elephant are charming with her apprehensive and excited looks -- and her pink bow worn especially for the party. A great read for small kids. Teaches manners and what to expect at a party.

Young children will delight in the story of elephant's first invitation to a party and they will also learn social graces and etiquette along the way. In your face illustrations are as big as the party-going Pachyderm and will have your children squealing with joy at her preparations. A clever story that will hold your child's attention and pass on a few social graces at the same time.

Jeff Seaver illustrates When Elephant Goes To A Party, an intriguing picturebook story which invites young readers to take an interactive role in deciding what kind of gift Elephant should bring to a birthday party, and how to be a good guest. Parents will find When Elephant Goes To A Party a delightful choice for reading with kids: it's fun and packed with gentle reminders to kids on how to prepare for a social event.

This book describes how to prepare your kangaroo for the daily routine of going to school. It explains that a kangaroo should be dressed cleanly and neatly, be careful when crossing the streets, sit quietly on the bus, and follow the rules in school. In a humorous fashion, the book answers a lot of questions that curious readers may have about what school may be like. It has about 425 words.

In this delightful little book a young child has the opportunity to learn what to expect on the first day of school. The book encourages question asking and answering, encourages activities that can be done during the reading and allows a child to glean useful tidbits about preparing for school and what might happen once there.

Manners discussed include crossing the street, riding on the bus and listening to the teacher. Other discussions include how to find the class and desk, what might be learned, how some things might be easy while others might take more time, recess and playtime, lunch, bathroom breaks and more!

BEAUTIFULLY illustrated with an appealing and expressive kangaroo. I would say this is a must for any young child getting ready for their first school experience.

Author, Sonia Levitin, & illustrator, Jeff Seaver, have collaborated again on this second book in what I hope will be an ongoing etiquette series for young children. When Kangaroo Goes To School is a delightful story of a kangaroo's preparations and expectations for his first day at school..."do you know the rules?", "What about show and tell?", "Where will we eat?" and so on. Kangaroo will steal your heart and share the rules of "school etiquette" with your children.