One of the books that I planned on reading with our daughter as part of teaching her about good manners was It’s Time for Good 
Manners by Leslie A. Susskind. So, imagine my delight, on being able to review the book as well as another gem from Leslie’s pen – The Kids’ (And Parent’s too) Book of Good Sportsmanship.
Children’s Books That Teach Not Preach
Both the books talk about an important value or life skill and succeed in doing so without being preachy or lecturing. That, I feel, is SO important when writing for kids. Talk to them so they understand. Understanding brings acceptance. The It’s Time for Good Manners is a wonderful book that doesn’t only tell kids about manners and being courteous, kind and helpful but also helps them learn to tell the time. Cool, isn’t it?
The story is about a day in the life of Torie, Tessa, Tad and Tyler.
It starts with waking up and showing your appreciation to Mom for breakfast and then, proceeds through the day as the kids show good manners at various “times” and in a variety of situations.
Each page or “manner” is followed by the images of a clock that kids can use to draw in and learn to tell the time as well. There are plenty of Practice Pages at the end of the book too.
The Kids (and Parent’s Book too) of Good Sportsmanship is a great companion to It’s Time for Good Manners since it teaches children the importance of being a good sport and playing with plenty of consideration and team spirit.
Interactive and Engaging Kids’ Books
One of the best parts about Leslie’s books is that they involve the reader from start to finish. Plenty of questions and activities make the books highly interactive.
For instance, The Kids (and Parent’s Book too) of Good Sportsmanship starts with asking the kids about what sports they like.
Then, in each chapter or “value”, you have an example of who is not a good sport, followed by questions like, “Why do you think being there is important for Ben and Grace?”
Each chapter also involves the parents and tells them how they can contribute to inculcating good sportsmanship in their children.
Similarly, with It’s Time for Good Manners, the activity of tracing and drawing in the clocks involves the kids in the telling time process while the easy-to-read examples show kids how to be good mannered.
So, you have “It’s time to ask nicely” with Tad asking his mom to read him his favorite story by saying, “That’s my favorite story! Will you read it again? Please, Mommy?”
Both these books are perfect for kids aged 4-7. However, I found that reading them to my preschooler worked well too. We just did a few pages each day and she looked forward to checking out what the kids in the books were up to every day!
About Leslie A. Susskind
Leslie is a busy mom to two daughters and lives with her husband, Bill outside of Philadelphia, PA. She works in marketing by day and writes kids’ books at night.
Leslie is the owner of the Good Manners Kids Stuff store and its press and is the author of these two books along with a children’s fantasy novel, The Month of Zephram Mondays.
You can find out more about Leslie’s books and the wonderful products to teach kids good manners at http://www.goodmannerskidsstuff.com/index.html and http://goodmannerskidsstuffpress.com/.
Buy the Books
Disclosure: The Mom Writes received copies of the books for purpose of review. No other compensation was received.
This is so sweet. Stories with a definite outcome seem to work best with kids. When Vidur was little, we had these ongoing stories and some imaginary characters. My Mom was a great storyteller.
I still have some of the books we read out to him.
Vidya Sury, Freelance Writer and Blogger recently posted..Setting Goals – What is on your list?
Thanks for sharing, Vidya! I think that’s lovely. As my toddler grows, I’ve noticed she enjoys such stories more and relates better to them. Story-telling, in my book, is a great way to teach just about anything to a child.