Edited, with commentary, by Karen Santorum
In Everyday Graces: A Child’s Book of Good Manners, Karen Santorum has produced for parents and teachers a wonderfully rich and instructive anthology. Her volume speaks to the regrettable fact that the subject of manners is not much discussed anymore, and good manners seem practiced even less. Yet, good manners are a prerequisite for the growth of moral character; they are the habits of conduct and behavior by which we express in the most ordinary circumstances our fundamental respect for others, whether parents, friends, colleagues, or strangers. It is evident, then, that when we fail to instill good manners in our youth we invite a decline of civility and a coarsening of our common life.
Children lack the experience to anticipate what the appropriate behavior toward others should be when engaged in even the most ordinary social settings such at the dinner table, answering the phone, or receiving a gift or favor. Under such headings as "Honor Your Mother and Father," "Please and Thank You," "No Hurtful Words," "Good Behavior in Sport," and "Showing Respect for Country." Karen Santorum has arranged a collection of stories and poems that grows and enriches the moral imagination. Everyday Graces will be useful both as a bedside book and as a reference for home, school, and church library. Hardcover · 407 pages.
