Cuneo, Diane. Mary Louise Loses Her Manners. Illustrated by Jack E. Davis. Doubleday, 1999. ISBN 0-0-385-32538-X. $15.95. Not paginated. B All PB Reviewed by Vicky M. Turner It all started with Mary Louise saying “fleas” and “spank you” instead of the proper “please” and “thank you.” Her parents, deciding that she has completely lost her manners, send her out to find them. Mrs. Abby, at her easel, is the first person Mary Louise asks to help her find her manners. As Mary Louise describes her manners, Mrs. Abby sketches them. Every place Mary Louise tries has just seen her manners; they were so nice and polite that everyone Mary Louise meets wants her to help them in the same way that her manners did. But since her manners are lost, Mary Louise only makes a very big mess and leaves before anyone gets too angry. Mary Louise finally finds her exhausted manners at the library. The librarian helps her lift the sleeping manners, covered with a newspaper, into her wagon, and she carts them home. Now that she has her manners back, Mary Louise remembers all the rules and practices her manners all the way home. The biggest disappointment is not being able to see the manners. They are covered with newspaper and the reader never gets to see them. I was hoping for just a little peak. It felt like the author/illustrator just ran out of ideas and didn't know what the manners looked like.
