Elisabeth was rude and selfish and demanding, and therefore had very few friends.  When she sent out invitations to her birthday party, no one accepted.  Her mother warned her that she needed to improve her manners and to try to get along with people.  She told Elisabeth that she needed to use the magic word “Please”.  So when Elisabeth went to school the next day, she thought of her mother’s advice, “What is the magic word?” and she started saying “Please” and also “Thank You”.  She tried to become more thoughtful of others, and discovered that she was a much happier person.  Imagine her pleasure when she returned home to find out that her new friends were all coming to her birthday party!

Reviewed by Max Aures (age 4.5) and Mom for Reader Views (5/11)

Max‟s comments:

"In the beginning of the book, the girl Elisabeth wasn‟t a very nice girl. She did a lot of naughty things and it says that she never said „please‟ or „thank you.‟ Lots of people didn‟t want to play with her. She didn‟t share things. I wouldn‟t want to play with her either.

When she had a party no one wanted to come. They didn‟t like her very much. Then, her mom told her to start saying „please‟ and „thank you.‟

My favorite part of the book was when she said „please‟ at school. I think those kids almost fell over when she said that because she never does!"

Parent‟s comments:

"The Magic Word" is a wonderful book to teach young children the importance of having good manners. Cannon uses the main character to illustrate what happens when good manners are not exercised and then shows how things change when manners are used. My child was able to relate to the characters and we really enjoyed the lesson taught in the book.