THE BAD GOOD MANNERS BOOK

A rhyming list of dos and don'ts, with the don'ts alluringly depicted in Cole's chaotically zany pencil-and-watercolor illustrations. As she showed in The Trouble With Mom and The Trouble With Dad (both, 1986) and other books in the series, Cole understands the vicarious delights of reading about rule-breakers, especially for children, who are tripping over new social expectations at every turn. She plays to her audience in a state of high glee, while the last spreads—without losing the sense of fun- -move beyond etiquette to the Golden Rule: ``Do as you would be done by others/as much as you possibly can!'' The illustration shows a boy skateboarding down the hall to his parents' bedroom, carrying breakfast on a tray (and his head), who collides with the cat and is catapulted—sausage, eggs, and all—onto the bed, where his spattered parents console him: a reassuring demonstration that good intentions are appreciated despite unexpected results. A book to join Sesyle Joslin's What Do You Do, Dear? and What Do You Say, Dear? (both, 1958) and the much more recent lessons of Caralyn and Mark Buehner's It's a Spoon, Not a Shovel (1995). (Picture book. 5- 8)