Author: Lynda Seminara
Publisher: Tate Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-62024-838-6

“’Young man, get your filthy dirty fingers away from that slippery sloppy spaghetti! And cover that messy mouth when you sneeze!’” Toby is told by his mother during dinner one day in Lynda Seminara’s children’s book, Toby Tanner, Where Are Your Manners.

Around twenty pages, this small paperback book that is about the size of half a sheet of paper has a colorful drawing of a boy looking under his bed for his manners on the front cover. The back cover shows the same boy in a quandary, wondering why manners are hiding from him. The back cover also includes a couple paragraphs about the book and a short author biography. With no scary scenes or profanity, this is an ideal tool for young preschool age and early elementary school children to learn about proper manners. Fun and simple yet expressive illustrations are on one side of the page while one to two sentences of the storyline are on a blue background on the other side of the page.

In Lynda Seminara’s first children’s picture book, Toby is a young but messy boy who has somehow forgotten and lost his manners without realizing what they really are. When his mother scolds him at the dinner table for using his fingers and not covering his mouth, the child is challenged by being asked where his manners are and the boy takes the task literally.

Calling out, Toby looks everywhere for his “Manners,” but does not find them behind his desk, under his bed, in his closet or dresser drawers, or even in his sister’s bedroom. He searches in the bathroom wondering if they are taking a shower, in the garage or backyard, and still wonders why they are hiding from him.

When he starts using manners by asking “please,” without shouting or pointing, he thinks of ways to get the Manners to show up again. By being polite, he invites Manners to dinner and says he will use his napkin, sit up straight and eat with his mouth closed. Only then does he realize what manners are and how to use them properly.

This is a wonderful, innocuous tome that any young child could read over and over again to learn how to have good manners, learn to say thank you and be polite. Kudos to Seminara for such an uplifting, educational book that is fun reading while promoting good behavior.

This book was furnished by the author for review purposes.


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