Looking For a Good Book

THROWBACK THURSDAY: REVIEWING A REISSUE

They just don’t make books like this anymore, so a big “Thank you!” to Dover for reissuing this book!

Short and sweet, this 33 page book is full of easy to read rhymes and beautiful black and white drawings (by Maurice Day) that will be great to share with the pre-schooler in your life.

Each of the short poems is a miniature morality story, extolling the virtues of good behavior and pointing out bad behavior.  But all the ‘children’ depicted within are anthropomorphic animals, so parents who share this book with children can remind their tots about the bad behavior of “Danny Donkey” who didn’t wash behind his ears, or Susie Squirrel who didn’t like having her tail brushed, or Zebulon Zebra who didn’t like to wear the nice clothes his mother thought best.

The rhymes were easy on the tongue, and there’s still something that feels so nice when reading a children’s book and having a nice rhyme scheme.

Maurice Day’s art is fantastic.  I’ve often been partial to pen-and-ink artwork, and this is remarkably detailed (for prolonged viewing by the youngsters) while managing to be simple enough to capture immediate attention.  It’s a tremendous skill that I haven’t seen much in modern artists (with the possible exception of Jan Brett’s work).

I really liked everything about this book.  It surprisingly didn’t feel too dated, despite being 90 years old.

Looking for a good book? The Animal Etiquette Book of Rhymes is delightful and should be in the homes of everyone with a pre-schooler.

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The Animal Etiquette Book of Rhymes

author: Helen Cowles LeCron

artist: Maurice Day

publisher: Dover Publications

ISBN: 0486782344

paperback, 64 pages