Social Smarts: Manners for Today's Kids - Hardcover

Carol Barkin is also the author of "The New Complete Babysitter's Handbook", along with Elizabeth James.

Grade 4-6?This guide explores a wide variety of settings in which consideration of others and appropriate etiquette are important?introducing people, speaking on the telephone, etc. Key chapters explain social conventions and procedures for behaviors at school, at the dinner table, at parties, on vacation, and in the general public (e.g., movie theaters, bus stops, malls). James and Barkin provide not only the "hows" but also the "whys." The explanatory text is neatly spliced with fictionalized question-and-answer advice-column letters to a mythical columnist, "K.T. (Knows The) Answer." The authors are to be commended for giving wise counsel for difficult situations such as supporting a friend who is mourning the loss of a loved one. However, they seem to aim their book chiefly at young women. Yes, boys' names are sprinkled throughout and boys are included in the cartoon-style pen-and-ink illustrations, but the examples in the text more often than not appear to be directed at girls. Shopping behavior, for example, describes the rude behavior of girls trying on clothing in a store with no intention of making a purchase. Clamorous, boisterous boys need good manners, too.?Jerry D. Flack, University of Colorado
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