Great Picture Books for Having Manners

Manners is a very important topic to emphasize as early as possible.  It is certainly not easy to teach young children how vital manners are, but these books have helped us quite a bit. We are constantly working on manners, but I pick some of these books up regularly from the library and that seems to help with this ongoing message.

Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners by Laurie Keller
Love, love, love this book!  I can not say enough good things about it.  It is silly - super silly.  But it gets us talking about some very important things.

Whoopi’s Big Book of Manners by Whoopi Goldberg, illustrated by Olo
This is another goofy book and some of the things (such as cell phone use) don't really apply to toddlers or early school-aged children.  But it is great fun and there are some great lessons in there.

How Do Dinosaurs Play With Their Friends

How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food 
by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mark Teague
All of the dinosaur books (there are more than these two) from Jane Yolen are subtly teaching lessons.  If you talk about them as reading them, there are so many things to learn from these books.

Emily's Out and About Book by Cindy Post Senning & Peggy Post, illustrated by Leo Landry

Great book for introducing good manners and, while not as silly as the previous entries, still great for children.



The following books use animals in such a fun way that kids can't help but enjoy and learn some great lessons about manners at the same time:

Tissue, Please!
Excuse Me! by Lisa Kopelke

Please Say Please! : Penguin's Guide To Manners by Margery Cuyler, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand

Time To Say Please! by Mo Willems

The Nice Book by David Ezra Stein

The Golden Rule is really hand in hand with manners and these books portray it in a way that is very easy for children to comprehend:

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney 
A breathtakingly illustrated story with no words.  My children will "read" this story to me over and over.

The Golden Rule by Ilene Cooper, illustrations by Gabi Swiatowska

The Berenstain Bears and the Golden Rule by Mike Berenstain, Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain

Should I Share My Ice Cream? (An Elephant and Piggie Book) by Mo Willems


We love new books at our house - if you love any other literature on this topic, please share!