Customer Reviews

50 Things Every Young Lady Should Know: What to Do, What to Say, & How to Behave

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I first picked up the book 50 Things Every Young Lady Should Know by Kay West, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was interested to learn a little more about etiquette, and perhaps some things I would like to teach my own daughters someday. What I found was a nicely written book with short anecdotes, as well as do's and dont's for young ladies to follow.

I wasn't sure who exactly classified as a young lady, but it seemed like the book was written more for ages 12-16 than anything. It also contained lots of modern advice about acting like a lady. In this day and age, a true "lady" is hard to find, so I was glad that this book emphasized how important being one still is. I especially liked it's emphasis on modern social areas, such as texting or Facebook. I guess there's hope that manners and etiquette can still be used in our technology-saturated lives.

My only critique was that I wasn't exactly sure how many young girls in the target age would actually read such a book. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think at that age I would have fully appreciated a non-fiction book with short points to it. I might have skimmed it, but not actually read it. It would have seemed more appropriate to write the book for mothers in order to help them know what to teach their daughters.

Overall, though, it was a good, short read, and I was pleased to find I learned a lot of new pieces of etiquette as well. I would recommend this for mother's or teenage girls who want to learn a little more about etiquette and manners.

Many people believe that etiquette is a thing of the past. Our culture's relative philosophy believes that people can do whatever they want. Yet, in reality, this concept doesn't fly.

This book by Kay West is (in essence) an etiquette book for young ladies (approx. middle school age). Unlike the books of the past, this one is relevant to the 21st century. Each of the 50 chapters covers one "thing" such as accepting a compliment or making an apology. It is relevant to today's young ladies who use cell phones, social networks, digital cameras, make-up, and fragrances. They succinctly explains the proper behavior surrounding those subjects with a brief introduction then a do, don't, and why not.

Another positive element of this book (other than its adorable pink and gray cover), it begins with simple information--such as the importance of saying please, thank you, and excuse me--then it moves to more "mature" subjects such as borrowing clothes from friends, place settings at a formal dinner, and being asked to dance.

Even though I'm not a "young" lady any more, I really enjoyed this book (and even learned a few things too). I would recommend it as an easily understood and applicable book for any early 21th century young lady, especially in a time where everyone delights in informality, yet they are still impressed with those who still use good manners.

This book was given to me by Thomas Nelson publishers as part of their Booksneeze program. I am writing my own, unbiased review.

I really wanted to like this book. I liked the hip Chevron cover, I liked the idea of a modernized Miss Manners... and I thought it'd be good for my daughter to get some pointers from a book (because I have officially turned into the dumbest person she knows). The title of the book pretty much explains it all. Kay West, along with John Bridges and Bryan Curtis, gives young women a handbook for just about everything today's teens encounter, from managing friendships to staying safe on Facebook.

I liked the way the book was written. Concise scenarios and advice written to the tween/teenager without talking down to them. I think the advice contained in the book is very practical and agreed with basically all of it. So why the 2 star rating? Well, you see, it's not as much what I think about this book as it is about what happened when I handed the book to my daughter.

Maybe I was over-eager, but I handed her the book with genuine enthusiasm. She flipped through it for about five minutes and promptly went back to reading Harry Potter (for the bajillionth time). I asked her to please give it another chance, yet there to book sat. When I asked her what she thought about what she actually did read, she said, "Meh". So, I guess the bottom line is, you can lead a teen to an etiquette book, but you can't make them read it.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

Our family recently took a road trip and brought this book along. To break up the drive we read a few chapters out loud and fell into quick discussion about each one. Although the book may have been intended for young teenagers (got one of those) it was the older college girls (two of those) plus college boy (one of those) PLUS adults including grandmother who were along for the ride that also enjoyed it. Everyone chimed in with their own examples and added their opinions to each Do or Don't. (It got quite revealing and dishy at one point!) I might suggest to those readers who have had no luck forcing this and other etiquette books on their (needy) teens to do something like this too. Much more natural and, believe me, the young ones are paying attention too.

50 Things Every Young Lady Should Know was such a fun, easy read! Manners are a part of life and need to be practiced by everyone. This book covers everything from Please and Thank You to Sympathy to Facebook etiquette.

Even though I knew most of the rules in the book, it was still a good review. I would probably suggest it for girls ages 11-14. Also, the cover was simply gorgeous! As far as looks go, this is one of my favorite books ever! Well done all around, Ms. West!

I received this book for free to review from Booksneeze. The review is my own, honest opinion.

Oh, my is this a great book! There are some awesome etiquette lessons for all of us in this book. This book is written well and easy for young girls to understand. Each lesson is a chapter. The first lesson is Saying "Please". How simple is that? But how many of us don't hear it?!?! Then next lesson is Saying "Thank You", and Saying "Excuse Me". All things everyone should know and should do, but how many of us don't say these ourselves?

Each chapter explains the lesson and how to do the skill, then it is broken down into at least 3 YOU DO, YOU DON'T and WHY sections. So for the Thank-You note lesson, one of the YOU DO's says: Write a thank-you note for a gift you've received. YOU DON'T: Think that saying "thank you" in person when you receive the gift is enough or that texting "thx!" will take care of it. WHY: If someone has taken the time and effort to choose and purchase a gift for you, the most meaningful way to respond is to express your appreciation in writing. Then there are some tips on what to say and what to say it on!

I love this book and recommend it to all my friends with young ladies! Thank you BookSneeze for the free copy in exchange for my review.

I recently had the chance to review the book called 50 Things Every Young Lady Should Know, by Kay West. I thought before I read this book that this was more of a book of helpful information on how to teach these things to a young lady, but it was actually written to young ladies everywhere. The chapters are clearly titled on certain specific topics so you can flip around to a chapter that applies best at the time, and there are simple and practical helps with "do's" and "don'ts" that do not take long to read over.

This is a great reference manual to keep on hand for teaching young ladies good etiquette, and you can be sure that we will be keeping this in our home library to reference as my daughter gets older and able to read this on her own. I would definitely recommend this to others, as some of the included topics are not as covered in today's culture, and proper protocol for handling oneself in some situations can be vague - making this book a great tool to have on hand!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

I am probably an odd one, I know. I enjoy reading etiquette books. (I once read through an entire volume of Miss Manners. You'd think I'd have learned it all...) ;) I feel that etiquette has become a lost art and I enjoy finding books for young people that help them learn how to respond in situations. 50 Things Every young Lady Should Know is an attractive book - I loved the cover from the start, and the size as well. It's a narrow hardback. One of the things that was a downside for me as a reader was the short chapters, however I don't know that this is necessarily a negative for the target audience. It made for an easy pick-up book - grab it and read a couple of pages. Some of the more helpful things (not included in my Miss Manners book) were cellphone and social network etiquette. Very needful in today's society and not something mentioned, for obvious reasons, in older manners books.

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Thanks to Thomas Nelson's Book Sneeze program for giving me this copy to review. My opinions are my own.

My 11 year old daughter loves books that tell you how to do things, how to do things right and what is wrong ...she has several of the "Best of Everything" Series so I gave this book to her for her thoughts. After all this is a book for young ladies, and though I wish it were so...I'm no longer a young lady.

When asked for her review, my usually chatterbox child replied "I liked it!". Hmm...not exactly the review I was looking for...I asked for some elaboration. She said it teaches you all sorts of good things like she was never sure what side to put the forks on when laying the table for dinner, now she knows" Ok this is a good start, what else did she have to say? "I should say Please and Thank-you more often". This pleases me. The reiteration by this book of the values we've been trying to instill for so long are is a good reminder to my daughter without me having to nag for once. And I do believe I'm hearing more pleases and thank-you's.

I think "50 Things Every Young Lady Should Know" is a book every young lady should have. It's the kind of book that instills in the reader good values and manners but without preaching. It explains why we should do things and why we shouldn't, for example (I love this one),

" A lady wears sunscreen every day; otherwise she'll look like an old lady long before her time".

The book is written in a light manner but gets the point across. I think it will be a "go to" book for my daughter when she's unsure about how to do something and I think I'll be bookmarking a few pages for her to read!

This book is a handy little reference guide for girls learning basic social graces. Each of the 50 things is written concisely in two to three pages, with simple do's and don'ts as well as explanations behind them. Topics include saying "please" and "thank you", formal table settings, using social media, giving and receiving gifts, accepting a date and more.

Overall, I think this book is a wonderful beginner's resource for etiquette. And aside from the few gender specific topics, it is actually full of information most everyone should know! Etiquette is not often taught or used by younger generations anymore. However, on a couple of topics I felt the book to be either too conventional for modern times or the tone was in a register suited for "high society" rather than one that all social classes would be comfortable relating to. I believe there are some formalities that would be downright awkward in situations when a more simple, yet still polite, response is appropriate.

All in all, I think this book is a great discussion starter between tween / teenage girls and their parents or mentors. The idea is to instill a sense of dignity and respect for oneself and others - this book does that.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book for free through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.