How Rude!: The Teenagers' Guide to Good Manners, Proper Behavior, and Not Grossing People Out

Rating:
Summary: Mind Your Manners!
Review: " This book is about manners. If it makes you feel like throwing up, at least say excuse me on your way to the bathroom." School manners, family manners, talking manners, walking manners, eating manners, greeting manners: this book teaches all the manners in the world and then some. It's a well written book, and the quizzes are especially good. An average question in a quiz:

You're at the symphony and you feel like throwing up. Do you:

a) Exit quickly and quietly as you can

b) Ask the lady next to you if you can borrow her purse, or

c) Heave to the beat.

You can learn the greeting practices of the middle east or the eating manners of a fancy restaurant. This book is best read for a laugh because most teenagers will give you the wrong answer and think it's right. It has value in it too, so do't think I'm saying it doesn't teach manners. If you want a book to get a teenager like me back on track, How Rude is the book to get.

Rating:
Summary: be aware
Review: A great book for teens. It answers tough questions on friends, family, and school. It teaches good manners and proper behavior and has many great stories. Altough it was very basic.

Rating:
Summary: Grandma, may I have this book?
Review: After discussing manners with my grandson and having him ask for reasons why he should follow good manners, I ordered this book. Yesterday when he and his little sister were visiting, I was reading to her and when I finished her book, I picked up "How Rude" and began reading aloud. Before too long he came over and asked if he could have the book I was reading. I told him that is why I had purchased it, because I knew some day he was going to be a very important person because he is so intelligent and such a wonderful young man. I want him to know the correct way to behave and how to handle situations. He took the book over to the couch and began reading, every once in awhile sharing what he was reading. This book is written with great humor and kids can't miss learning while they are being entertained. After awhile I asked him if I should buy the book for his cousin, Todd, and he said, "Yes!" Then I asked if Jenny should also have a copy, and he thought she should, too. So I am here to order two more for my other young teen grandchildren. I hope their older teen siblings learn a little, too, from them. I definitely recommend this book as a must buy for your grandchildren in today's world of lack of respect and manners.

Rating:
Summary: Edit the Sex Section
Review: I did not read the whole book but I skimmed through it before buying it for my daughter. It looks very thourough and some parts are quite funny. The author treats the subject with good common sense. HOWEVER, the sexual part seems to me something it could have been edited. I don't think that discussion was necessary. So upon my wife's suggestion I WILL EDIT THE BOOK BY CUTTING THAT PART OUT after I buy it. I hate to do it but I must unless I find some other book.

Rating:
Summary: Edit the Sex Section
Review: I did not read the whole book but I skimmed through it before buying it for my daughter. It looks very thourough and some parts are quite funny. The author treats the subject with good common sense. HOWEVER, the sexual part seems to me something it could have been edited. I don't think that discussion was necessary. So upon my wife's suggestion I WILL EDIT THE BOOK BY CUTTING THAT PART OUT after I buy it. I hate to do it but I must unless I find some other book.

Rating:
Summary: Works for Us!
Review: I have three boys who think the funniest thing in the world is a colossal burp at the table. I bought this book and read it. It hits right to the heart of the matter. As I read to the boys at the table, "It's okay to tell jokes and be silly, but it's not okay to belch, burp, and stick straws up your nose."

I started by randomly picking a page at dinner and reading or relating the topic. Most of the time we end up laughing and talking about other rude behaviors. Sometimes the pages we read are initiated by an activity at the table (burping, reaching, talking with your mouth full)and sometimes it is initiated by some thing that happened that day (someone got pushed, received a gift they didn't really like etc.) We do this at dinner most nights (for a very short period - after all it would be rude to monopolize the conversation - as my boys have pointed out.) I knew it was working when the mother of one of my son's friends called and said that he had had such a good time at dinner (at our house) and came home telling his family the polite way to ask for and pass food around the table. She wanted the book!

Rating:
Summary: My grandson asked for a copy...
Review: My fifth grade grandson asked for a copy of this book after reading through parts of it at a friend's home. His friend received her copy as a Christmas gift. I suspect she showed it to him to try and improve on his typical fifth grade boy manners (or lack thereof). Since he began reading we have all seen noticable improvement in how the relates to both other youth and adults around him. He mostly uses it as a reference book, and looks up what it says about specific problems as they come up. I am certain he has looked through the section on Sex Ediquette because he is starting to become courious about those things, but we found nothing there that should not be covered in the "sex education" part of his regular health classes. I would recommend the book for any youth in Middle School.

Rating:
Summary: A great guide for learning your manners
Review: Picture this scene: It's your birthday, Christmas, Hanukkah, whatever. Your parents tell you that they think you should be working on your manners, and that this present will probably help you. "Oh great", you think. "It's probably some boring, dumb, etiquette video or book." Well, that's wrong if the present you recieve is "How Rude!"

Unlike other dull, preachy, and boring ettiquette books, "How Rude!" is the most effective one when you're dealing with teenagers. What makes this book so much more fun, so much more exciting, and so much more willing to learn your manners is that it has humor in it. Not corny humor, but the style that the author wrote this book in is interesting and fun, making it a simple, fun, effective, and life-changing read.

This book discusses basic manners for nearly every situation in life, from saying hello and good-bye to attending a wedding. You'll find helpful hints on good conversations, writing invites and thank-you notes, being a guest at someone's event, asking people out politely, eating properly, and much, much more.

In addition, this book covers topics that you typically wouldn't find in etiquette books, such as clothes, school, romance, Internet safety and manners, and sex. (So it would be best to give this book to someone whose at least 12-13 years old- maybe 11, if they're mature enough)

Another cool feature of this book is that it features answers to questions sent in by kids to the author about proper manners, all of them answered with humor and good wit. You'll find yourself laughing the entire way through.

All in all, "How Rude!" is the best, most effective etiquette guide to buy for any teenager, boy or girl. It's a book that will be read and re-read constantly. But best of all, you'll learn good manners that will help you throughout the rest of your life.

Rating:
Summary: Favorite Christmas gift for 2001
Review: This is easily the most popular book in my waiting room. I see both parents and adolescents looking at it and laughing. It is actually an etiquette book, but Emily Post would probably run away screaming if she saw this one.

The author uses amusing "stories from the manners frontier" and fictional anecdotes. Some parents may be "grossed out" by examples of what not to do in public. Still, the message to the adolescent is clear. It is in your own best interest to be polite, courteous and responsible. That is ultimately the best way to get what you want.

Carol E. Watkins, M.D.

Rating:
Summary: Favorite Christmas gift for 2001
Review: This past Christmas, I bought this book for my 11yr. old daughter as well as 5 other 11-12yr. olds (both female and male) on our list. It has been the most appreciated and talked about gift of the year (still yet) by both kids and their parents. The appeal seems to be the humor in which manners and the lack of manners are addressed. The book also includes reproducible pages to help serve as reminders, should any of us forget, for example, "The Fifty Commandments of Family Etiquette," or "The Fourteen Commandments of Toiletiquette," which includes the Thou Shalts as well as the Thou Shalt nots! Packer certainly knows this age group. I have also read Bringing up Parents which may turn into the gift of the year 2002!