BetterNot! And the Tale of Bratsville: Teaching Morals and Manners
by Gene Del Vecchio
About the Book:
This magical, delightful children’s series is about BetterNot, a mysterious character who arrives in a flash to aid parents by helping their children learn fun, yet valuable lessons about morals and manners such as fairness, honesty, and kindness. It is brought to life with unique, colorful, engaging illustrations. This first story is BetterNot! And the Tale of Bratsville. It’s about a town filled with very naughty children like Larry Liar, Rebecca Robber and Lilly Loudmouth. They lie, steal, call people names and more. Their parents could not make them behave no matter what they tried. As the parents told their children again and again what they better not do, the magical creature named BetterNot rose from his magical, bubbling purple swamp to come to their aid. He swooped into town to teach each child a fun yet valuable lesson in a fun way that fit each child’s poor behavior. Children everywhere need to obey their parents. If they do not, BetterNot might come to your town, too! Look for future books in this series.
My review:
My son has always LOVED to read! My husband and I have always read to him every day. It must have rubbed off on him because he spent his summer vacation reading a trilogy series instead of just the first book like the whole 6th grade was expected to.
Even though my son is 12 years old, he still read the BetterNot! book. To make things more fun, he actually read it out loud to me. Have you ever had your tween read you a kid’s picture book? It really puts a whole new perspective on things. It brings back all those memories of reading book after book after book at bedtime. One of my son’s favorite authors was Dr. Seuss. The BetterNot! book reminds me a lot of the antics of Dr. Seuss’s characters! I love that Mr. Del Vecchio uses rhyme in his fun book. Using rhyme helps keep the attention of children and adults alike. It makes them WANT to here the next part because they can’t wait to hear which word the author chose for the rhyme. After being a parent for a few years, I finally figured that out! My son most always asked for fun rhyming books. While we read, we used to come up with as many rhyming words as we could. He had no idea he was learning every night while we read his favorite books!
One of my favorite parts of the book is the television page! “Watching too much television,” began BetterNot, “is not very wise. If you are not careful, it might capture your eyes.” So you better not watch too much TV. The illustration is perfect and it always gets a giggle out of my little niece. It’s something my mom would have told me when I was young. It also plays on our imaginations. My son has always had a vivid imagination and this book would have been one of his favorites when he was a few years younger.
I can’t forget the best part of the book- it teaches our children manners through the magic of imagination, rhymes and fun! I love it when a book teaches our children important things without them realizing they are learning. The whole story shows kids what happens when you don’t mind your manners and don’t do what your parents say. The book is not meant to scare children, BetterNot! is like a funny combination of a genie and the boogie man. BetterNot! makes learning about manners fun!
Overall, BetterNot! And the Tale of Bratsville is a magical book that teaches our children manner in a fun way. I highly recommend it for your children! I would recommend it for children ages 3 to 9. Your kids will love it almost as much as you will!
One more thing, your child doesn’t have to be a brat to learn things from this great book!
About the Author:
Gene Del Vecchio is the author of seven books. His first young adult novel, The Pearl of Anton, was honored with a star review in Booklist, while the sequel, The Sword of Anton, was honored with the Young Adults’ Choices Award from the International Reading Association.
Be sure to follow him on Facebook and Twitter!
Want your own copy of BetterNot! And the Tale of Bratsville? Get it on AMAZON HERE!
