No Holts Barred: Do Unto Otters (A Book About Manners)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008.

Do Unto Otters (A Book About Manners) Author: Laurie Keller (on JOMB)
Illustrator: Laurie Keller
Published: 2007 Henry Holt and Co. (on JOMB)
ISBN: 0805079963

Cluttered with comedy, melodrama and earthy, Looney-Toonesque artwork, this brilliant guide to social success is as hilarious as it is helpful.

(…er…actually….maybe more hilarious than helpful, as we now hear our girls screaming at each other “DO UNTO OTTERS, REMEMBER, DO UNTO OTTERS!!!!!”)

Other books mentioned:

Lady Lupin’s Book of Etiquette

HOTLINE VOICES: Michelle Mitchell from Scribbit: Motherhood in Alaska shares her thoughts about The Little Golden Book Anthologies.

5 Comments »

Comment by Andy

September 24, 2008 @ 8:32 am

Smart pick! Here’s my review (as posted on from Jacketflap.com):

“Silly, cartoony, just plain funny-fun illustrations fit flawlessly with this story about being kind to your neighbors. It’s presented in a woodland setting where our main character, a rabbit has a new family of beavers move in. He accepts the mantra of “do onto otters as you would have done to you”… and winds up taking us on a journey of exactly how he’d like to be treated and we see the rabbit/beaver dynamic in full swing. Lots of fun! My favorite line happens in the front matter before the story has even begun… Rabbit hops around with a hearty “DOO-DEE-DOO!” Kids will no doubt be hopping around doing the same!”

Laurie rocks! Thanks for the fun audio!

Comment by Michelle at Scribbit

September 24, 2008 @ 10:16 am

Great podcast-sounds like a book that would be popular around here!

Comment by Sarah Ackerley

September 28, 2008 @ 12:48 pm

Oh, Laurie Keller is one of my favorites! She’s a hoot and a half! I saw a reviewer call her a “goofball and a genius” once. I couldn’t have put it better myself.

My favorite page of this book is when the rabbit is contemplating having otters move to the neighborhood. Otters? Otters? My new neighbors are OTTERS!

ohhhh hahahaha! Good times. If you like this book you should really be the proud owner of Arnie the Doughnut too. It’s a classic tale of adoption and family…sort of.

Pingback by Saturday Review of Books: September 27, 2008 at Semicolon

October 11, 2008 @ 12:05 am

[…] #6 Twilight)82. Jennifer (The Five People You Meet in Heaven)83. MFS (National Book Festival)84. JustOneMoreBook! Podcast (Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners)85. Stephen (The Suspicions of MR Whicher)86. Wendy (A Garden of Earthly Delights)87. Wendy (Ships […]

Comment by Ana G.

November 21, 2008 @ 3:18 pm

I loved the illustrations and the book was really funny but I didn’t take out the book from library for myself.

Every week, I take the kids to the library and borrow about 5 books and this one happened to be one of them.

All though my 3 year old sat through the entire story and loved talking about the pictures, the story itself was a bit too ambiguous to her.

So all in all, I think that had I waited another year to read this book to her, she would have enjoyed it more.

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