Rules of the Wild: An Unruly Book of Manners

by Bridget Levin, Amanda Shepherd

Playing in the dirt, staying up all night, and leaving clothes strewn across the floor are not a problem if you're a wild animal. Dunking food, burping, and splashing—no problem either. Human kids, who are expected to follow rules, rules, rules, will squeal with delight as the pages reveal wild animals getting away with all kinds of outlandish behavior and will relish "knowing better!"

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Humor

36 pages, Hardcover

First published August 5, 2004

Reviews

[La Coccinelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book takes some very Western assumptions about manners, combines them with the idea of wild animals, adds some stilted verse with weird verb tenses, and tries to make kids laugh. It might be a funny book for kids, but adults are likely to pick up on some of its issues.

The main problem I have with this book is that it doesn't really do anything about teaching manners. It just shows all the things the child could do if they had various animals for parents. The chart in the back, showing what different animals (and humans) are allowed to do, just adds insult to injury. Human children are not allowed to do anything, apparently; they're not allowed to splash each other while swimming, make loud noises, burp out loud, or dunk food in their drinks. I expect to see this kind of "children should be seen and not heard" thing in books from the 1800s... not ones published in the 2000s. There's also the fact that some of these "rude" things are only considered rude in Western culture; burping out loud is a positive thing in certain Asian countries, for example. I'm not even sure what to make of the last one; is dunking your Oreo in milk now considered a no-no?

To be honest, I barely even registered the pictures when I read it the first time. I was too distracted by the weird way the text was written:

Mother Dolphin would nod,
"Splashing is fine."
Father Lion exclaim,
"That roar sounds divine!"

That's not a typo. It seems like it should be "exclaims", but the verb tenses are weird. This happens in more than one spot. It may technically be correct as a subjunctive form or something, but it sounds odd.

Overall, I didn't really like this one. The overwhelming feeling I came away with is that kids aren't allowed to do anything. This just seems like one person's idea of how they think children should behave... ignoring the fact that manners vary by culture.

[Lea Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book to read at the beginning of the year when letting students decide classroom rules.

[Francis S. Poesy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun concept execute nicely. Should be a fun read (and act) aloud selection.

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a cute book. I liked how it featured appropriate animals that would correspond with a particular behavior--like, lions say it's okay to roar and pigs would let you eat whatever you like.

See more of my reviews at http://adriennesbooks.blogspot.com/

[Maggie Cheesman · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the book, Rules of the Wild, the characters are many different animals. The different animals represent mothers and fathers. These characters say something that a human child couldn't do. In the end of the book, there are human parents and they ask if the child knows what they should or shouldn't be doing. On the last page of the book, there is a chart that states everything that was said. I think this book would be very beneficial for young students. This shows them how important manners are. It also shows them that even though animals act a certain way, it is not okay for them to act this way. This is a perfect book for a parent to read to their young child at bedtime. The young children will be able to understand and apply their own lives to Rules of the Wild. This is a perfect book for the read aloud because the pictures are big and bright. This will help keep the children engaged. Another reason why this book is good for the read aloud is because there aren't a lot of words on the page. Since there aren't a lot of words on the page, the students are going to be able to pay attention and stay focused for the whole book.
I think this book is best for kindergarten and first grade students. These students will get the most out of this book and they will also find it very funny. The illustrations are realistic to these students and I think they would very much enjoy it. The younger students will also like this book the most because it is an easy read, so it could potentially be one of the first books the student could read on their own.

[JaNeal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost gave this book a 3 because the writing has some room for improvement. The meter is awkward (I recommend a scan through by yourself before reading aloud) and the language is a bit stilted. Still, I have to say hats off for a fun theme, darling details, and marvelous illustrations. I loved the facts-at-a-glance end pages. That was the last detail that helped swing me over to include the book on my list.

I'm not sure I would spend the money on it (unless I had a child who really connected with it), but it's worth a check-out from the library.

[Kate Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is all about manners and rules. It talks about different animals and their "family rules". For instance, the bats are allowed to stay up all night, the pigs are allowed to eat whatever they wanted, and the elephants are encouraged to make loud noises. At the end, there is a chart that compares the rules of each animal family and a human family.

This book is a great way to talk about all types of rules. It could be used to talk about different rules that families have at home or the differences in rules between home and school.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary:
You would have a different set of rules if you lived with an animal family. For example, you could stay up all night if you lived with a bat family!

Has a neat graph at the end graphing what animals would and would not allow certain rules. Good book to reinforce or review rules of school/class/library!

[Laura]

Levin, Bridget. Rules of the Wild: An Unruly Book of Manners. (2004)

Annotation: If you were the child of an animal your rules of dos and don'ts might be different.

Theme: manners, animals, behaviors, poetry

Way to use with children: You can make a list of rules that humans have and ask if those same rules apply for different animals.

Recommended ages: 2- 9

[Oana Cerchezan · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading this book to the students during the first day of school,we can come up with our own classroom rules and what we think is ok and not ok. This gives the children a feeling that they have a say in what are the classroom rules. This way if they break the rules, they cannot say that the rule is unfair when they are the ones that created them.

[Lde212_06 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rules of the Wild is a great way to lead into creating the rules that you would like to establish in your classroom. It sets a foundation that emphasizes that certain behaviors are either acceptable or unacceptable depending on your environment. Teachers could stem off this and spark a conversation with the students regarding what behavior they feel are acceptable in the classroom.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cracked Elise up. The idea is that if your parents were camels, you'd be allowed to spit at each other, if they were bats, you could stay up all night, etc. Actually led to some good talking about why we have the rules we have.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is pure comedy and entertainment, children would find this book hilarious. I loved this book and I think it would serve as a great read aloud.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Manners are not the same when the house is ruled by animals. A fun approach to the right behavior.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manners rules are turned upside down when you're an animal!

[Kristin Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love how this book takes all the behaviors that we say "no!" to & introduces animals that would say "yes".

[Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute, the illustration style reminds me of a book I had when I was little and loved. Great inside jokes. Also the yes/no chart at the back kids will love!

[Jennifer Ho · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute rhyming book.