How to Behave and Why

You have to be HONEST
You have to be FAIR
You have to be STRONG
and you have to be WISE
And there is no good in trying to fool yourself. All that isn't so easy."

In a time when all the rules for raising children have been redefined dozens of times, here is a book for bewildered parents from a simpler time when we all agreed on what was right and what was wrong. First published in 1946, Munro Leaf's How To Behave And Why gives touchingly sincere yet gently funny lessons in Honesty, Fairness, Strength, and Wisdom. Originally intended for the very young, but with meaning for us all, How To Behave and Why is a true classic, charmingly illustrated with childlike drawings, and with a timeless message. It is a sure guide for teaching children (and adults) how to behave.

Using stick figures and easy to understand language, Leaf simply tells it like it is - or should be - in ways that kids can easily grasp. Monitions against laziness, frowning, whining, selfishness and avarice, just to name a few, are worked in so well that most kids won't realize they're being given advice. For instance (and consider this was written in 1946) in the section about being Wise:

"Other people have thoughts, ways to do things, ways to work, ways to play, ways they think of God and their country and their race. Their way can be just as right as your way. Remember that, and be glad you have a chance to choose the best of all ways."

Stick some screwball political motive onto that and take God out and you have Political Correctness; how much more simple and true the original sounds.

Parents and courageous educators would do well to begin to hunt for Munro Leaf. Sadly, he's been out of print since before The Great Society, and thus he may be hard to locate. Amazon.com found this one for me, and I was able to locate another title in a local 'very used' book store. Nontheless, his ageless wisdom and whimsical style can and should be used as weapons against the value-neutral and culturally relativistic nightmares that modern education has become. And remember: everybody share - don't take them all for yourself.


Written more for older children and adults than young children   February 27, 2006
Linda Jones (Nebraska)
19 out of 57 found this review helpful

I have several things about this book that I don't like. First and foremost is the horrible artwork. It isn't charmingly illustrated, as the inside cover states. It's stick figures scattered through a lot of text. More text than pictures. If a book has value, it should place value on good presentation, which the artwork in this book completely fails to do. Using stick figures to portray everything demeans the message that the book is trying to make. It says to a child "this book isn't all that important, because nobody felt it was important enough to take the time to really do well in the artwork." Calling them charming figures is a little like a used car salesman trying to sell a real lemon, or trying to sell a house that is badly in need of major renovations to an unwarey buyer. The limitation of the artwork also fails to provide enough visual appeal to each page to keep a young child's interest long enough while you read the rambling preaching.

A second problem that I had was one that I'm sure a lot of people overlook, but one that is very personal to me, as a person who is disabled. It's the part of the book that says "You have to be strong," And then proceeds to say that it is all just a matter of healthy habits. Then it proceeds to denigrate anyone who isn't "strong" by saying that people who are not strong "might as well be a run down mouse." With this kind of name calling attitude towards those who are weaker, children are sure to develop prejudism against people who through no fault of their own are disabled, or ill, or physically different, or who require help and care from others. There is nothing in the book that helps a child differentiate between someone who has poor health due to bad choices and someone who may be weak due to things beyond their control. All too often I see children respond to disabilities in others in a negative way, and I feel that it is as important as any other good behavior to learn to have compassion towards people who are less able, for whatever reason. That is what true strength is, not just the absence of illness. I don't want to downplay the importance of good health, but the message that the book portrays fails to make the right point where health is concerned, and helps to promote prejuditial behavior in it's place. Some kids might get the difference, but some kids won't, unless you spend some time discussing it with them, and making sure they understand. But how many parents just read the book, and expect the message from the book to be enough?

I can usually overlook defects like this as long as a book has true value in the content that it expresses. But this book was more like listening to a dry sermon, with very watered down reasons for behaving, including the reason that you should behave because you're told to. Somehow I think that misses the whole point of the title of the book, that makes you think that it's going to tell you not only how to behave, but WHY to behave. It fails to give adequate "why's."

I'm really disappointed in this book, because with all the good reviews, I expected it to be something really well done and useful. I think I'd rather read reviews by the kids who are forced to have to sit through listening to this lecture. There is a real need for books that teach children how and why to behave. But this book fails to do that, in spite of it's title.


Great book for kids of all ages!   June 9, 2003
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

An excellent resource for teaching children how to treat others and reasonings why. The word usage of "stupid" and "dope" may bother some people, but the political correctness was not a consideration for this book written in the 1940's. I think it may be too complex for babies, but my kindergartener is very receptive to it.