Looking for a creative and fun way to teach or review manners with your little one? Whoopi's Big Book of Manners is a great way to learn the 'do's' and 'don't's of being polite. "Don't pretend you don't know what's going on when you see everybody looking at you, tapping their feet, rolling their eyes, breathing hard and heavy." Whoopi urges children to ask themselves if they did anything wrong in that situation, and if they did, be brave and say "I'm sorry." Each page teaches manners for certain situations, whether you're on the phone, at the movies, playing a game, or in another country. There is even a rule or two included for the parents! The primarily watercolor and ink pictures really stand out with their subtle mixed media details, like a tree in the background or the pattern on a character's clothing. The characters come in all sizes and colors with silly expressions sure to keep child entertained. Some characters are not even human! You will see a Kitty packing up to leave town, a hungry ogre at the table, an alien in a car, and more. The text changes size, color, and font to create a visually stimulating sentence, as well as help the reader know when to emphasize for a more entertaining read.
Whoopi does a great job of building suspense; each page ends in a cliffhanger saying an even more important manner will be found on the following page. Can your little one guess what the final manner is, hidden under a page flap? The answer is sure to surprise readers of all ages and bring a smile to your face. Each page offers opportunities for interaction. You can either relate the manner on the page to a time it applied to your child's actions, or you can have them share their thoughts on the right thing to do in each of the situations. You can also ask your little one what their favorite manner words are; is it 'please'? Thank you? May I? Finally, the book includes humor that your child is sure to appreciate. For example, when addressing table manners, silly asides are added in, such as not eating with your hands "unless you are an ogre. In most cases, ogres are exempt from having certain table manners - it's a cultural thing..."
My four year-old niece, Emily, was a big fan of the illustrations, finding something to point out and giggle at on each page. Emily thought the picture with the lesson about knocking on doors before entering was hilarious because the example was a little boy walking in on his father in the bathroom. At four years-old, bathroom jokes are all the rage.
--Audra