Manners: A Classic Guide About Politeness and Social Skills for Children

by Aliki

The wonderful Aliki Brandenberg has written and illustrated more children's books than many kids have read. 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.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Nonfiction, School, Parenting, Emotion

32 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 1990

About the author

Aliki has written and illustrated many books, both fiction and nonfiction, loved by readers throughout the world. The books were inspired by a word, an experience, or the desire to find out. Aliki lives in London, England.

Reviews

[Ronyell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now, I will admit that I had only read a handful of Aliki’s works with “Feelings” being one of my absolute favorite books by Aliki. So, when I found out that Aliki was making another book that followed up after “Feelings” called “Manners,” I just had to check this book out and believe me, I was totally blown away by the informative nature of this book!

In this book, children are taught about how to show good manners towards other people such as learning how to say “please” and “thank you” and to not be rude towards other people.

Aliki has done it again with creating a book that teaches children about good manners and also about how it is not good to show terrible manners (such as eating sloppily at the dinner table and being insulting towards other people). Probably my most favorite moment in this book was when Aliki showed scenes of various children doing little skits about how to act during a certain situation, such as one skit called “Manners Lessons #4: At the Table” where it showed a girl and a boy performing a skit where the girl was politely eating her food at the table, while the boy was being extremely rude at the table by slurping down his food instead of taking little bites like the girl. These skits can be used to help children who are reading this book on how to behave properly around other people and they could also try to do these same skits to practice showing good manners towards other people. I also loved the fact that Aliki not only shows how to portray good manners towards people, but also shows what bad manners are like, such as in the “How Anthony Almost Ruined Diana’s Party” segment, the title character Anthony almost ruined Diana’s party by insulting everyone at the party by calling them names and being disrespectful to the other children who brought Diana various gifts. Aliki’s artwork is both cute and expressive at the same time as they show various children performing different situations in which they show both good and bad manners. Probably my most favorite artwork in this book was when they showed a girl and a boy in “Manners Lessons #4: At the Table” performing both the polite and rude way to behave at the dinner table, such as showing the boy shoveling food into his mouth and drinking his water in huge gulps, since it was so hilarious to see!

Overall, “Manners” is a fantastic book for children who want to learn about when to show good manners and what is considered bad manners for many people. I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book, unless you are worried about smaller children copying the bad manners segments in this book.


Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is recommended for ages 4 and older but unless the child can read alone it's of no use. The cartoon style layout on certain pages, with multiple characters and three-five word sentences mixed with one word answers make it next to impossible to read where someone, anyone can follow. Even pointing only helps so much.
I don't know how I feel about the little birds at the bottom of the pages giving their two cents. Julia thought they were cute but they seem to be just that - cute.
Some of the pages are easier to read but there are enough pages that aren't that justify giving this a pass. I'm sure better books on manners can be found.

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

My five-year-old son and I loved reading this together. He definitely learned a few new concepts, so I'm thinking we'd better revisit this one a few times. ;)

My son adored the pictures and the humorous bits.

[Cailean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really cute book filled with cartoons about manners and what is appropriate and inappropriate. I think probably best for school-aged kids, however it's even good for adults! 4 stars because it's a little extreme (like, "come on, seriously?" kept coming to mind when reading).

[Sarah A · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good simple book for exploring various aspects of good manners. Nice easy to understand drawings.

[Edward Sojuwa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Aliki lives in a sterile environment. She thinks certain things "should be", instead of facing reality. I get this as I make myself sift thru this patronizing piece of garbage called Manners, which, in a "manner" of speaking, is too mannerly for today's world. Truth is: it's a good thing to be nice to others, and we should. But Aliki takes things to extremes. She lays out lessons in etiquette, which is another word for control and conformity. I'm against it on a personal level, and those who know me in my world know exactly why. This asks readers to be polite, instead of being honest. Being polite, so says Aliki, respects other's feelings. But that's not reality. In life, if you wanna respect someone's feelings, sometimes hurting them is a requirement. None of us are Aliki, which makes us more equal than you can imagine.
One lousy star
Manners suck ass.

[Joanne Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't see a book like this being published today, but in pure Aliki style it uses comic panels, storytelling, art, and humor to get her point across and keep her readers interested. Many useful ideas about politeness which never goes out of style. Some slightly weird pages but overall a classic.

[Moses and Felix · Rating 2 out of 5]

Judgmental and antiquated; more appropriate for elementary school-aged children, but even then, I am sure there are better books on etiquette.

[Yangie Dwi Pinanga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hal yang disuka mengajari anak tanpa menggurui tapi dengan pretending and role play. So children will relate.

[Renee Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing woman. I met her in person just recently. At 94, she shares her insights as a world traveler.

[Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a fave of H, JF enjoyed it. It's kind of hard to do as a read-aloud though.

[Hannah Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having good manners can mean a lot of different things. It means being polite at the dinner table, but it also means saying you're sorry or being nice to someone. There are a lot of ways we should have good manners and this book describes all the ways we can do that.

This book explained what it means to have good manners by children role playing or pretending what it looks like to have good and bad manners. I think children would enjoy the different scenarios.

This would be a great book to use as a script to role play or act out some of the scenes. I think children would enjoy that more and would commit it to memory.

[Leslie Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covered a lot of different manners, which was good, but I think the format and writing made it a little difficult for younger children to grasp. I have a 3- and 4-year old, and they seemed more focused on the bad behavior than the good. The format of the book is to have have two children act out different situations (comic book style), and one will be good and one will be bad. Though as an adult I understand which behavior is appropriate, I'm not sure that it is always apparent to younger ones. I think this book would be better for a 2nd grader.

[Ali Hembree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manners are something that every child should learn about at a young age. Some house holds do not value manners in the way that I will value manners in my classroom. I will read this to my students the first week of classes so they know what I expect in my classroom the rest of the school year. This is another book in which I can read to any grade level I teach.

[Emelda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too old for my kids (one was bored in the middle of it)- but preschool/kindergarteners would probably have fun with this, as would readers. Definitely a book a child can come back to as they age, it has kind of an introduction-to-comics vibe on some of the pages, and there are cute little asides all over the place.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

manners are so important for kids to learn, so i'm an advocate of any book like this. have you ever had a child open a door for you? wonderful to have happen, and quite rare anymore. very reflective of upbringing. so great to be mindful of others before "you."

[Pepa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sends a good message but I don't think the layout of the pages will work well in early childhood classrooms

[Kathrine Rogers]

Manners Week

[Brenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

tHIS Book IS AWESOOME!!!!!!

[Cheryl · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book contains some good lessons in manners, but is a very boring read. Most of the book is in comic strip format. It was boring for my 4 year old son & boring for me as well.

[Bridgid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better for older kids, 4+

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pointers on good manners are helpful. The pages where the kids act out examples of bad manners would make fun skits to do in class and get everyone involved in the demonstrations.

[Alok Singh]

I m not able to know how to open pages to read

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book on basic manners in various situations. I'm going to definitely read it to my class at the beginning of the year.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a vision... I need to share this with everyone I know. Best book I read all year.

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

long story very detailed...