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Cassidy's Guide to Everyday Etiquette
Eleven-year-old Cassidy has just inherited a gift from her late great-grandmother. Unfortunately, that “gift” turns out to be a summer trapped in etiquette school. What good are manners, anyway, for a girl who dreams of living life on the road as a hobo—er, “knight of the road”?
As if trying to remember to keep her elbows off the table isn’t bad enough, Cassidy’s best friend, Jack, suddenly seems more interested in doing chores for the new teenage girl who’s moved in next door than in fishing with Cassidy down by the river. Not even her classic epic pranks seem to be saving Cassidy from having her worst summer ever. It’s time to face facts: growing up stinks.
Veteran middle-grade author Sue Stauffacher returns with a cranky, pranky, laugh-out-loud tomboy heroine who might just learn the hard way that manners do matter, and that people can change.
As if trying to remember to keep her elbows off the table isn’t bad enough, Cassidy’s best friend, Jack, suddenly seems more interested in doing chores for the new teenage girl who’s moved in next door than in fishing with Cassidy down by the river. Not even her classic epic pranks seem to be saving Cassidy from having her worst summer ever. It’s time to face facts: growing up stinks.
Veteran middle-grade author Sue Stauffacher returns with a cranky, pranky, laugh-out-loud tomboy heroine who might just learn the hard way that manners do matter, and that people can change.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published June 9, 2015
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63 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
May 30, 2015
I picked up a copy of this book because I thought it would be really funny. I was in the mood for laughs. Yet all I found was my eyelids. I was so bored with this book. By chapter 6 I was done but I decided to pursue reading a little more of this book in hopes that the laughter would be found but none was found. I finally stopped after reading two more chapters. The girls and the teacher at the etiquette school were annoying and not girls that I wanted to get to know. This just was not the book for me. A stinker.
June 26, 2015
Eleven-year-old Cassidy Corcoran is quite a pistol. She and her best friend climb in and out of trees, bedroom windows, and adventures while she dreams of living as a hobo one day. When her great-grandmother leaves her etiquette lessons when she dies, Cassidy is decidedly ungrateful. A police officer and the school's best student end up in the class too, providing plenty of comic relief for Cassidy and a challenge for the teacher, Miss Melton-Mowry, who loves her job but knows that etiquette lessons seem valued less and less these days. Cassidy is also left nonplussed by Jack's sudden interest in a new neighbor. Everything reaches a climax in a final dinner scene that allows Cassidy to show off how much she has learned about manners.
March 9, 2015
Loved Cassidy's spirit, but had trouble getting through the book.
March 5, 2023
I checked out this book when looking for others to teach a lesson/activity for 8-9 year old kids. I though it would have some fun ideas. It was not what I expected. It is somewhat of a tween coming of age, but with such outlandish characters, I don’t think my kids would really enjoy or relate, so I’m not sure who it’s written for.
Want to read
April 16, 2021Note: I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
August 3, 2023
The sweetest, most charming ending to any middle-grades novel I've ever read.
December 19, 2016
When her great-grandmother dies, Cassidy receives an unexpected gift in the will: an etiquette class at Miss Melton-Mowry's School of Poise and Purpose, to be held during summer vacation. Cassidy, who would much rather be planning and executing pranks with her best friend, Jack, and preparing for her future career as a hobo, is horrified by all the rules she would have to follow in order to have even passable manners, and she goes into the class with a poor attitude. When a prank on the instructor goes wrong, however, and Jack suddenly seems really interested in a pretty new girl in the neighborhood, Cassidy realizes it might be time for her to start growing up, too, despite how uncomfortable the idea makes her.
The setting of this book is obviously not familiar to most kids, but they will see little pieces of themselves in Cassidy. At eleven, she feels the pressure to grow up and begin thinking about how to behave properly in public and how to impress romantic interests, but she is also eager to hold onto the habits of childhood a bit longer, as she is starting to glimpse a future where many of her current games and interests will no longer be appropriate. Because of her immaturity, and her mischievous personality, she is sometimes a bit annoying, especially for the adult reader, but kids who feel as she does will relate strongly to her desire to find the fun in everything and postpone maturity as long as possible. There are few female characters like Cassidy in recent children's books, so it is nice to see a different personality and worldview represented.
This book ends on an odd note, which seems out of sync with the rest of the story. The great-grandmother's strange inheritance was difficult enough to swallow, and her follow-up gift after Cassidy finishes the etiquette class comes completely out of left field and almost seems to be setting the reader up for a sequel in an entirely different genre. (No sequel has been announced so far, but the potential is certainly there.) Another problem with this book is the cover. The images selected appearing on it seem to be geared specifically toward girls, even though there is nothing about this book that would preclude boys from reading it. The title also makes this sound like a very girly story, when, in fact, the entire point of Cassidy as a character is that she is not overly girly.
Read-alikes for Cassidy's Guide to Everyday Etiquette (and Obfuscation) include the Hunter Moran books by Patricia Reilly Giff, Revenge of the Bridesmaids by Jennifer Ziegler, and the Marty McGuire series by Kate Messner. Though middle school readers might enjoy it, it skews a bit younger, and would probably appeal more to 4th and 5th graders, especially those who already know the author's Donuthead books.
The setting of this book is obviously not familiar to most kids, but they will see little pieces of themselves in Cassidy. At eleven, she feels the pressure to grow up and begin thinking about how to behave properly in public and how to impress romantic interests, but she is also eager to hold onto the habits of childhood a bit longer, as she is starting to glimpse a future where many of her current games and interests will no longer be appropriate. Because of her immaturity, and her mischievous personality, she is sometimes a bit annoying, especially for the adult reader, but kids who feel as she does will relate strongly to her desire to find the fun in everything and postpone maturity as long as possible. There are few female characters like Cassidy in recent children's books, so it is nice to see a different personality and worldview represented.
This book ends on an odd note, which seems out of sync with the rest of the story. The great-grandmother's strange inheritance was difficult enough to swallow, and her follow-up gift after Cassidy finishes the etiquette class comes completely out of left field and almost seems to be setting the reader up for a sequel in an entirely different genre. (No sequel has been announced so far, but the potential is certainly there.) Another problem with this book is the cover. The images selected appearing on it seem to be geared specifically toward girls, even though there is nothing about this book that would preclude boys from reading it. The title also makes this sound like a very girly story, when, in fact, the entire point of Cassidy as a character is that she is not overly girly.
Read-alikes for Cassidy's Guide to Everyday Etiquette (and Obfuscation) include the Hunter Moran books by Patricia Reilly Giff, Revenge of the Bridesmaids by Jennifer Ziegler, and the Marty McGuire series by Kate Messner. Though middle school readers might enjoy it, it skews a bit younger, and would probably appeal more to 4th and 5th graders, especially those who already know the author's Donuthead books.
April 26, 2015
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
If you like your characters to be actually likeable, I'd not suggest reading Cassidy's Guide to Everyday Etiquette (and Obfuscation, which I will hereto refer to as Cassidy's Guide, because, well, ain't nobody got time for that full name.
The main problem with the book is that it was sooo hard for me to identify with this MC. She's rude, (I mean, that's to be expected when the girl has to go to etiquette school in a middle grade book, but this was not the 'cute' kind of rude, she was just rude) she makes extremely poor decisions, and she's selfish. I kept waiting for character growth. It didn't come until the last few chapters. By that time I'd given up on her.
She has two etiquette buddies. One is a boy named Delton. I ended up spending the whole time feeling bad for him. He's usually Cassidy's scapegoat for all her pranks that go horribly wrong and she treats him really poorly; why? I'm not completely sure because the poor kid never really did anything bad. Then there's a weird officer who...I don't know how he became a cop?! He's not all that bright and it seems like he'd have a hard time writing out a ticket. I really didn't like any of the characters in this book.
The second thing that really annoyed me is that none of these jokes are funny in the slightest. I'm not saying this because I'm too 'mature' for them; give me a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book and I'll giggle like a third grader. They just aren't funny. In fact, a lot of them made me really mad, because a lot of them were all, "Cassidy did this, oh my, isn't she just the darnedest thing?" but no. She was not. She was a brat.
The plot could have been really interesting; etiquette class for a girl who doesn't have the slightest interest? Things like it have been done before, but it still could have been quite enjoyable. But everything was so wrapped up in the 'humorous' scenes and Cassidy that I didn't like it.
Cassidy's Guide should have been a light and fun read, but I'm pretty sure my blood pressure hates me now due to this book. Not a fan.
If you like your characters to be actually likeable, I'd not suggest reading Cassidy's Guide to Everyday Etiquette (and Obfuscation, which I will hereto refer to as Cassidy's Guide, because, well, ain't nobody got time for that full name.
The main problem with the book is that it was sooo hard for me to identify with this MC. She's rude, (I mean, that's to be expected when the girl has to go to etiquette school in a middle grade book, but this was not the 'cute' kind of rude, she was just rude) she makes extremely poor decisions, and she's selfish. I kept waiting for character growth. It didn't come until the last few chapters. By that time I'd given up on her.
She has two etiquette buddies. One is a boy named Delton. I ended up spending the whole time feeling bad for him. He's usually Cassidy's scapegoat for all her pranks that go horribly wrong and she treats him really poorly; why? I'm not completely sure because the poor kid never really did anything bad. Then there's a weird officer who...I don't know how he became a cop?! He's not all that bright and it seems like he'd have a hard time writing out a ticket. I really didn't like any of the characters in this book.
The second thing that really annoyed me is that none of these jokes are funny in the slightest. I'm not saying this because I'm too 'mature' for them; give me a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book and I'll giggle like a third grader. They just aren't funny. In fact, a lot of them made me really mad, because a lot of them were all, "Cassidy did this, oh my, isn't she just the darnedest thing?" but no. She was not. She was a brat.
The plot could have been really interesting; etiquette class for a girl who doesn't have the slightest interest? Things like it have been done before, but it still could have been quite enjoyable. But everything was so wrapped up in the 'humorous' scenes and Cassidy that I didn't like it.
Cassidy's Guide should have been a light and fun read, but I'm pretty sure my blood pressure hates me now due to this book. Not a fan.
June 5, 2015
Delightful middle-grade book for young, the young at heart, and those who just enjoy an entertaining story.
Cassidy is a whip-smart 11 year old, full of energy and spunk. Her life's ambition is to become a hobo, and she can't wait for the end of the school year. She envisions a summer of bike rides, fishing, pranks, and hi-jinks with her neighbor and best friend, Jack. Picture a character who is a cross between Scout, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Calpurnia Tate. Cassidy's great-grandmother passes away, and to her horror, Cassidy learns that her great grandmother has put a provision in her will that stipulates that Cassidy should attend etiquette classes. Goodbye bike rides and fishing hole, and hello Miss Star Melton-Mowry's School of Poise and Purpose.
"Cassidy's Guide to Everyday Etiquette and Obfuscation" continues with laugh-out-loud moments, surprises, and interesting characters. If you're paying attention, you'll even learn the proper way to set a formal table ;-)
I enjoyed this book, as did my 11-year old daughter. 4 enthusiastic stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's Books for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Cassidy is a whip-smart 11 year old, full of energy and spunk. Her life's ambition is to become a hobo, and she can't wait for the end of the school year. She envisions a summer of bike rides, fishing, pranks, and hi-jinks with her neighbor and best friend, Jack. Picture a character who is a cross between Scout, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Calpurnia Tate. Cassidy's great-grandmother passes away, and to her horror, Cassidy learns that her great grandmother has put a provision in her will that stipulates that Cassidy should attend etiquette classes. Goodbye bike rides and fishing hole, and hello Miss Star Melton-Mowry's School of Poise and Purpose.
"Cassidy's Guide to Everyday Etiquette and Obfuscation" continues with laugh-out-loud moments, surprises, and interesting characters. If you're paying attention, you'll even learn the proper way to set a formal table ;-)
I enjoyed this book, as did my 11-year old daughter. 4 enthusiastic stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's Books for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.
October 2, 2015
When Cassidy’s great grandmother dies, 11-year-old Cassidy receives Emily’s Post’s books and 10 weeks of etiquette lessons as her inheritance. She would have rather had hobo lessons. Cassidy wants to be a “knight of the open road” when she grows up. Not willing to make the best of it, Cassidy goads a friend into helping her play a prank on Miss Melton-Mowry, the manners teacher, which goes terribly awry. Now Cassidy is in real trouble! Her punishment? She has to be the example of a worst case etiquette makeover and show that she has learned perfect manners at a fancy dinner at a country club!
This is book is full to bursting with subplots, all about Cassidy. The new girl next door has caught the eye of Cassidy’s best friend (12-year-old Jack); Cassidy has an extreme fear of bugs; Delton, the weird kid from school is in her etiquette class, and wants to get some “daring do” lessons from Cassidy. Also, Cassidy is naughty and quite rude and seems to think that she has no control over that. That it's her titanic karma not her choices that cause all her problems. I hope a middle school reader can see through this. Several funny situations, adventurous and quirky Cassidy will probably irritate adults, but kids may find her endearing.
This is book is full to bursting with subplots, all about Cassidy. The new girl next door has caught the eye of Cassidy’s best friend (12-year-old Jack); Cassidy has an extreme fear of bugs; Delton, the weird kid from school is in her etiquette class, and wants to get some “daring do” lessons from Cassidy. Also, Cassidy is naughty and quite rude and seems to think that she has no control over that. That it's her titanic karma not her choices that cause all her problems. I hope a middle school reader can see through this. Several funny situations, adventurous and quirky Cassidy will probably irritate adults, but kids may find her endearing.
April 4, 2015
Cassidy is an eleven year old tomboy with dreams of one day becoming a hobo and living the "romance of the road." Her best friend jack is having his first crush on the teenage girl next door, and Cassidy's grandmother has left instructions requiring that Cassidy attend an ettiquette class during the summer. What could be more horrible? This was an okay book, but it just didn't grab me, and the whole plans to be a hobo thing did not seem charming or funny to me. Maybe if you live in a nice suburb and don't see homeless people everyday the romance is easier to believe in, but it just didn't work for me.
April 15, 2015
I enjoyed Cassidy the main character in this book quite a bit. She was funny and kind of wild and her life's goal is to be a "Knight of the Road" aka a "hobo". The story itself was pretty interesting in that she was bequeathed etiquette classes by her late grandmother that didn't want to attend and the hijinks that ensued. However, I found the pacing to be a bit on the slow side. I felt like each chapter took way too long to finish.
*I was provided a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
*I was provided a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
July 29, 2015
Cassidy’s Guide to Everyday Etiquette (and Obfuscation) by Sue Stauffacher – I thoroughly appreciated this story. A girl, Cassidy, receives a gift that she just doesn’t understand, etiquette lessons. She has no use or reason to attend classes but must do so. How she turns her etiquette teacher’s life upside down is one part but the friendships and social situations in the book are just brilliant. Loved how things were communicated and also Cassidy’s relationship with her parents and friends…
“The way I figure it, you get a fighting chance with a calamity.”
“The way I figure it, you get a fighting chance with a calamity.”
November 2, 2015
Loved this book as I have had experience with a relative who is a big etiquette fan. Cassidy reluctantly accepts her fate to attend manners school, makes new friends, appreciates the old ones, and provides quite a few chuckles! Dad and Officer Weston are a hoot as well. Surprise ending, good fun!
January 26, 2016
I honestly thought this was going to be an etiquette book, but it turned out to be so much more. Cassidy was unruly and hilarious. I'm 37, but now I know I'll never grow up-- I enjoyed every second of this book of life lessons.
September 18, 2016
Parts of the book were clever, but there was simultaneously too much happening (so many subplots) and too little interest. I wished the author had chosen two or three subplots and really polished them.
December 2, 2014
An interesting situation...what 11 year old wants etiquette lessons?...and an endearing over-energetic heroine.
June 9, 2015
Cassidy is far too grating a character to lift this book above 'standard tween growing-up story'.
June 19, 2015
The title is a mouthful for sure. And I don't read a lot of MG, but this book and it's characters were cute, endearing and whimsical.
June 28, 2015
Div II
January 29, 2016
Cute, pleasant read. I enjoyed the quirky characters and was satisfied with the ending.
February 1, 2016
Wonderful addition to the eleven-teen group! A must have for upper elementary and middle school students!
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews