Chatty and knowledgeable about today’s etiquette, a little girl named Harriet with red “curly burly” locks demonstrates good words and phrases for all kinds of situations. But it’s not just the words, as she points out, that are important. It’s how, why and when you say them that matter just as much. “Please. . . puts a smile on your words” and “thank you” is “twice as nice.” “I’m sorry” and “excuse me” are trouble words, while “may I help you” can help “make the world nice.” Complimenting someone is important, as is knowing when to speak or not. Joosse presents concepts with just the right child-like appeal and humor to make kids giggle, yet appreciate her advice. Small ink-and-watercolor cartoon drawings of Harriet dressed in purple and pink against an off-white empty background lead the reader through some amusing scenarios and the dos and don’ts of each. Purple hand-lettered style–font for the representative dialogue enclosed in talking bubbles completes the design. Good words of wisdom for the right kind of manners. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-399-24217-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2007
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
A sweet iteration of the “Big Bad Wolf Mellows Out” theme. Here, an old wolf does some soul searching and then learns to like vegetable stew after a half-frozen lamb appears on his doorstep, falls asleep in his arms, then wakes to give him a kiss. “I can’t eat a lamb who needs me! I might get heartburn!” he concludes. Clad in striped leggings and a sleeveless pullover decorated with bands of evergreens, the wolf comes across as anything but dangerous, and the lamb looks like a human child in a fleecy overcoat. No dreams are likely to be disturbed by this book, but hardened members of the Oshkosh set might prefer the more credible predators and sense of threat in John Rocco’s Wolf! Wolf! (March 2007) or Delphine Perrot’s Big Bad Wolf and Me (2006). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-58925-067-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2007
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