Sesyle Joslin

What do you do if you're a fearsome pirate making your fine lady captive walk the plank, and she drops her handkerchief? Why pick it up for her, of course! What about if you're being kidnapped from the library by a villain named Bad-Nose Bill? Walk quietly out of the building - obviously! These and other pieces of helpful advise about the proper etiquette are offered here, in this charming, tongue-in-cheek guide to good manners.

Originally published in 1961, What Do You Do, Dear? is the second manners guide created by author Sesyle Joslin and illustrator Maurice Sendak, following upon their earlier What Do You Say, Dear? (1958), which was chosen as a Caldecott Honor Book in 1959. It is a droll exploration of good manners, emphasizing through extraordinary and unusual story-lines, the proper course of conduct, in more mundane times. One presumes, after all, that it isn't bad manners to object, when being kidnapped! Otherwise, of course, quiet in the library is advisable. Recommended to Sendak fans, people who enjoy vintage picture-books (there is some socially outdated material here), or anyone looking for entertaining examinations of etiquette for young children.… (mehr)

This book teaches/reminds children about proper manners by introducing ridiculous situations and then prompting children for the correct words to speak. For instance:

You have gone downtown to do some shopping. You are walking backwards, because sometimes you like to, and you bump into a crocodile.

What do you say, dear?

Excuse me.

The repeated phrase "What do you say, dear?" (with the response on the following page) invites child readers/listeners to participate in the book and think up the correct answers for the increasingly absurd situations. A couple of the situations suggest violence (a gun appears in one, a kidnapped girl in another), which is my only issue keeping this from being a 5-star book.

The illustrations, in a muted palette of blue, gray, black and white, are notable for being the early work of famed author/illustrator Maurice Sendak.… (mehr)