[.ca] This Little Piggy's Book of Manners (ISBN 0805067698)

very cute!:
When you think of manners, usually the last thing that you think about is pigs. You get a notion in your mind of a pig rolling around in the mud or digging its snout into the slop and making a mess. I think, though, that the choice of pigs to demonstrate good (and bad!) manners in this book was a perfect choice. Children, including mine, are naturally drawn to pigs, which I believe is the reason for the popularity of Charlotte's Web and Babe. Just seeing a picture of pig dressed up as a teacher on the front of the book was enough to take this book off the shelf and put into our library bag. My family and I really enjoyed that the author looked at both good and bad manners. The human mind often needs to see a positive and negative connotation to truly grasp an idea. It also gives the parent an opportunity to discuss why something is considered "good manners" and what can be improved in the situations where "bad manners" are exhibited. The author covers a good deal of the "manners" that parents try to instill in their children, but in a fun way for the whole family! To top things off, the illustrations in this book are wonderful! They tease the imagination to see animals playing human roles. Also, the emotions of the animals seemed to be expressed through the style and colors of the background and the writing on the pages. Then, of course, are the subtle things on each page that entice you to spend time carefully looking at each page. On every page there are small things that are sometimes overlooked at first, but quite enjoyable when found! The use of colored newspaper pieces in the background as everyday objects was ingenious and added so much appeal to the book. This book is a work of art that is useful in teaching manners!