What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this is a funny little book to
teach kids about good manners.
Families can talk about good and bad manners. Can you think of times when you had nice manners and times when you didn't? What happened when you didn't? Parents might also want to arrange a social time for kids to practice good manners, like a tea party with a friend or a special outing with a beloved relative.
Common Sense Media Review
The spirit of manners maven Emily Post lives on in the
efforts of her family. Great-granddaughter-in-law Peggy Post
and great-granddaughter Dr. Cindy Post Senning take their
family heritage seriously, but with a liveliness that suits a
kids' picture book.
Emily and Ethan are best friends with a passion for etiquette. Throughout their day -- swinging on the playground, eating cookies, and even visiting the president -- they remember to say "please" and "thank you" and when to use a napkin.
There's a lot of information here, and not every child is going to grasp all of the lessons. But the book has enough entertainment value to be read just for fun, too.
Cheery pen-and-ink illustrations keep pages busy and engaging, and lots of dialogue moves the book along quickly. Children will like identifying with familiar situations. They will also get a kick out of "Emily's Don'ts" -- small pictures that show up in the corner occasionally illustrating Emily getting it wrong.
Actually, the "Emily's Don'ts" corner displays one weakness in the book: Kids are asked to take the word of the narrator that manners are important. But the lessons would benefit with more examples of the consequences of manners gone bad. Parents familiar with the magazine Highlights may remember that the appeal of Goofus and Gallant was seeing just how rotten Goofus could be.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
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