Watch Your Tongue, Cecily Beasley

Written by: Lane Fredrickson

Illustrated by: Jon Davis

Published in 2012

I selected “Watch You Tongue, Cecily Beasley” because it was a funny and interesting take on kindness and manners.  In kindergarten, part of the TEKS are focused on people interactions, importance of respect, and appropriate communication with others, so I thought this book fit perfectly in a kindergarten setting.  Not only does it really focus on kindness, but it also has a fun rhyming pattern that gives it great flow and makes it fun for children.  The story is about a girl who has horrible manners and always sticks her tongue out, but then something happens that teaches her a lesson on manners.  I do think, however, that this book would work better as a complete read aloud, rather than a snippet, especially if the focus is on teaching students about kindness.  However, because of the great cliffhanger it leaves, here is the part I chose to read as a snippet:

 

“Cecily Beasley was never polite.  She never said, ‘Thank you,’ or ‘Please’ or ‘Good night.’

She tap-danced on tables.  She cartwheeled in dirt.  And she wrote, ‘I won’t share’ on the front of her shirt.  She sucked up spaghetti in one giant slurp.  And she’d laugh if she belched out a loud, stinky burp.

But those aren’t the worst things that Cecily did.  That mannerless, cartwheeling, toy-hogging kid would stick out her tongue, put her thumbs in her ears, and make dreadful faces at teachers and peers.

A boy named Bernard said, ‘You know, that’s bad luck.  If you do it too much, then your tongue might get stuck.’

When Bernard had a birthday, the was in place, and Cecily sang with a smirk on her face.  Then just when the very last note had been sung, something horrible happened to Cecily’s tongue.”