Bad Habits [Hardcover]

Babette Cole (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up

Just what is to be done with Lucretzia Crum? Everyone has a few bad habits. But Lucretzia has all of them! She's the burping-est, spitting-est, kicking and screaming-est girl in the whole town. And worst of all, her friends think Lucretzia's the cool-est! So what can be done with such a girl? Well...with her deceptively calm mom and mad scientist dad working on a number of wacky ways to tame their wild "little monster," it seems that Lucretzia's just deserts will soon be served!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gleeful as ever in her cataloguing of gas-passing, nose-picking and other improprieties, Cole (The Bad Good Manners Book) introduces an almost incorrigible child. Lucretzia Crum, whose flyaway red hair sticks out in messy spikes, "was an uncivilized little monster!" In a montage of obnoxiousness, rendered in gestural gray pencil and blurry pools of watercolor, Lucretzia sloppily devours her treats, curses a cloud of blue squiggles at her parents and throws a tantrum while wearing a frilly pink tutu. Worst of all, her classmates begin to emulate her: "They thought it was dead cool to be a little monster like Lucretzia Crum!" Lucretzia's father, a "mad scientist," devises inventions like "anti-foul-mouth soap" and the "classroom pacifier" (a mini-jail cell that the teacher can lower out the window), but the effects do not last. Finally, the neighborhood adults, disguised as smelly, burpy, destructive monsters (astute readers will notice their eyes peering from inside their costumes), crash Lucretzia's birthday party to demonstrate the shortcomings of monstrous behavior. Cole, who subtitles this volume "The Taming of Lucretzia Crum," empathizes with both tamer and tamee. Lucretzia is absolutely heroic in her rudeness, but she does bully her long-suffering parents and peers. Cole concludes with the adults victorious and Lucretzia "a civilized little angel," but the story doesn't rule out wildness altogether. The parents, like the children, evidently enjoy acting devilish now and then. Ages 4-8. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 2-Foul-mouthed, burping, spitting Lucretzia Crum, who steals from babies and stuffs herself with chocolates, may well amuse Dumb and Dumber fans. As the child's unacceptable behavior accelerates, her classmates decide to join in the fun: "They thought it was dead cool to be a little monster...." When the situation becomes intolerable, Mr. Crum, a mad scientist, invents contraptions and cures for each disgusting habit-but they don't work for long. When the girl insists on a birthday party and invites her nasty friends, the parents unite to teach the children a lesson, and all of them miraculously change, including Lucretzia, who becomes "...a civilized little angel!" Cole's richly irreverent, full-color cartoon creations will be relished by youngsters even if they don't accept the unlikely transformations. Bad Habits! is sure to be a rollicking read-aloud, and independent readers will be compelled to share choice bits.
Jody McCoy, The Bush School, Seattle, WA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Dial; 1st edition (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803724322
• ISBN-13: 978-0803724327
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 9.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,743,111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Yup, they're bad habits all right!!, August 26, 1999

By 

Chess Heart "paxbear" (Canton, OH) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Bad Habits (Hardcover)

Ms. Lucretzia Crum has a veritable potpourri of bad habits, including (but no doubt not limited to) burping, farting, spitting, yelling & screaming. Of course, because she can get away with all of these bad habits, she is the envy of her classmates to do their best to emulate her (one page shows Ms. Crum at school where, among other things, a well dressed boy is releasing a large cloud from his nether end-complete with the word "poop!"-and a frustrated, thoughtful teacher with green apple bouncing off her head).

Her father is, of course, a mad scientist who invents fantastically rediculous inventions to keep her under control, like the "burp-bung" (a plunger-like invention placed over the mouth), the "thief-proof pullover" (sweater with long sleeves tied to bricks), and the "Blowfart Inhaler Suit" (consisting of a rather overinflated astronaut suit complete with hose attaching the hind end of the suit to the fishbowl helmet).

The illustrations are amusingly preposterous and have a frenetic feel to them, which suits a main character that destroys everything in her path. When Ms. Crum's birthday party rolls around and some REAL monsters enter, a whole LOT of destruction takes place!! Enough to scare Lucretzia right into being good! Especially when it is revealed that these monsters used to be children who ran amok just like you-know-who...

As an educator, I can see how Bad Habits! would thrill some children to the marrow-especially those who have a taste for bathroom humor. While I can see the slapstick of the Blowfart Inhaler Suit, I have to report that the book is too over-the-top for my professional and personal life (the pink monster with the giant buttocks instead of a head who is constantly "blowing off steam" as it were is, for me, a bit more than I'd like to expose my own child to).

Is it a GOOD book?? Yes, and most children 4-8 would enjoy it. However, my fear is that they would begin to EMULATE it as well. Also, I have some difficulty with the subtext: how did Ms. Crum get to be so OLD without any discipline?? And is the correct response to excessive intestinal gas a plunger or a "fartsuit"?? Amusing, perhaps, but not the sort of book I would recommend without some serious forethought.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun Wacky Manner Book, April 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Bad Habits (Hardcover)

We ordered this one and found it to be funny and entertaining ! The Dad's inventions were a hoot! We have well mannered children, and they delighted in Lucretzia Crum becoming an ANGEL and giggled about her bad behavior, knowing right from wrong is one thing. Having light hearted fun is another. Any of Babettes Coles Books can be a fun entertaining experience. Lighten up.... It is a fun Read!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Learn to laugh a little, April 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Bad Habits (Hardcover)

We adults sometimes put way to much thought into what is a simple, funny book for a child. Kids need humor sometimes to see what is wrong with certain behaivors and the goal is to have them want to read anyway! If it is funny and entertaining they will. A sanitized version of lessons in behaivor is not only boring but it is also lost on the young learner. I say buy it and have a good laugh with your kids!