One morning, after some particularly shocking--but awfully funny--breakfast behavior, Mary Louise realizes that she has lost her manners.I've paid so little attention to them, she thinks,that they've up and run away!She has no choice but to begin a search mission. From a neighborhood restaurant to a doctor's office, past a hot dog vendor then a street musician, and even into the library, Mary Louise tries to find her manners. Instead she ends up making more trouble everyplace she goes. Have her manners deserted her forever? Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

In Cuneo's occasionally clever but often forced debut, a slip of the tongue means a loss of manners. "Pass the pancakes, poop," young Mary Louise demands, startling her parents and herself. "I've paid no attention to my manners, and now they've run away," the red-haired girl decides. She combs her neighborhood for them, rudely interrupting conversations, making too much noise and responding, "Boogers!" rather than "Bless you!" to sneezes. She describes her absent manners to a sidewalk caricaturist, who sketches as she talks; the manners wear a "neat and fancy party dress" and have "big ears for listening... a little mouth to keep naughty words from slipping out," etc. The resulting mug shot aids Mary Louise in her quest, but Davis (Music Over Manhattan) never shows readers this portrait. And although the other characters see the manners, they remain concealed from readers' view even after Mary Louise finds them. On the one hand, Cuneo and Davis suggest the thrill of nonconformity. The illustrations, rendered in a freewheeling, satirical cartoon style, show Mary Louise smiling sheepishly yet proudly after each faux pas. On the other hand, "Mary Louise wished she had exercised her manners more often," and her peers look horrified rather than amused when she breaks minor taboos. Unlike Babette Cole's Bad Habits (reviewed above), which leaves room for naughtiness, this work seems to pay only lip service to both the liberating effect of bad behavior and the virtues of politesse. Ages 4-8. (May) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

PreS-Gr 2 A comic story with colorful cartoons that jump off the page. At breakfast one morning, Mary Louise commits all kinds of mannerly faux pas (including saying "spank you" instead of "thank you") until her mother declares that she has lost her manners and her father sends her away from the table to find them. Mary Louise sets off on her search and meets a series of people who have seen her manners and noted their politeness. Each character she meets ultimately sends Mary Louise away due to her rudeness. Finally, she finds her manners at the library, puts them into her wagon, and practices polite statements all the way home so that they will never run away again. The premise is rather unusual, but the illustrations are detailed and entertaining, as is the story. Cuneo has a keen ear for a child's voice and sense of humor, and it comes through in the story. If you are looking for a funny book to teach manners, try Caralyn Buehner's It's a Spoon Not a Shovel (Dial, 1995) or Babette Cole's The Bad Good Manners Book (Dial, 1996). This one just may encourage children to say all of the impolite but funny things that Mary Louise says along the way. Amy Lilien-Harper, Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Ages 4^-8. One morning at breakfast, Mary Louise shocks her family by making rude comments, demanding that her mother "pass the pancakes, poop," and replying, "Spank you very much." All conclude that she has lost her manners and send her away to find them. She commissions a picture of her lost courtesy from an artist friend and then searches everywhere for her manners--at a nearby restaurant, in a doctor's office, along the street, at a bus stop, and finally at the library. It's there she locates her elusive etiquette, sleeping soundly under a pile of newspapers. Young children who often fail to live up to the high conduct standards set for them by adults are sure to identify with Mary Louise's problem and delight in her absurd solution. Davis' full-color, exaggerated illustrations perfectly capture the humor of Cuneo's text, adding absurd details to the story. Pair this with Russell Hoban's Dinner at Alberta's (1975) or Sesyle Joslin's now out-of-print What Do You Do, Dear? for a lively read-aloud. --Kay Weisman From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.