Thanks a Lot, Emily Post! Book

A hilarious look at good (and bad) behavior!

Based on Emily Post’s bestselling etiquette book, published in 1922, here’s an uproarious picture book that takes rules about behavior and turns them upside down. When Mother brings home Post’s big blue book—it’s all about minding your manners—there sure are a lot of new rules to follow: No slumping in chairs, no leaning on your elbows at the table, no shouting at the top of your lungs. Mother is delighted, but the kids are not. What they need is a clever plan to get rid of that pesky book once and for all. But how? Turns out the answer’s easy—they just have to play by the rules.

With actual quotes and characters from Post’s book woven into the story, here’s an uproarious look at being on your best behavior . . . and on your worst!

Publishers Weekly

Huget's debut shows how mayhem can result when anything is taken to extremes, as four antsy children and their frazzled mother alternately come to loathe the blue Emily Post etiquette book Mother buys. “Suddenly it was Emily Post this, Emily Post that. We weren't allowed to slump in our chairs. We had to keep our hands to ourselves,” narrates a frustrated son. Boiger's (The Little Bit Scary People) detailed vignettes show the early 20th-century family trying unsuccessfully to adapt—the siblings end up tied to their chairs in one illustration. Ghosts of the fictional characters Post used to illustrate her points (Mrs. Worldly, Mrs. Toplofty, the Wellborns) make several appearances, in shadowy blue-gray hues, trying to assist the unwilling children and revealing that not even a young Emily Post was above reproach (she once fed a shattered tea set to her goldfish). When the children turn the tables and use Best Society rules to annoy their mother, she sends the ghosts and the blue book packing. Despite the sometimes inconsistent renderings of Mother's face, the inviting watercolors and slapstick comedy will keep readers turning the pages. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)