Do I Have to Say Hello?

Carol Kane (who some may recognize as the actress playing the kooky landlady on "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt") is hilarious as Aunt Delia, who gives kids an entertaining manners quiz. With various scenarios followed by true/false or multiple choice questions, Aunt Delia makes kids laugh while illuminating the nuts and bolts underlying gracious human interactions--whether at birthday parties, dinner tables, or in conversation with relatives. Aunt Delia offers the correct choice along with outlandishly rude (but not uncommon) alternatives that are funny but also perceptive. Kane's somewhat scratchy voice is perfect for the part of Aunt Delia; she serves up her droll scenarios with a generous helping of humor that will make them go down smoothly with all generations. J.C.G. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

November 1, 1989
Acting in loco parentis, Ephron's ``Aunt Delia'' and ``Uncle Jerry'' try to effect behavior modification in their farouche little kin, whom they invite to take a manners quiz. The results appear in New Yorker cartoonist Koren's drawings, as drolly sympathetic as his illustrations for the author's bestsellers, How to Eat Like a Child and Teenage Romance . An expert on the indignities inflicted on adults by beloved children, Ephron raises audible laughs as she makes painfully clear the difference between ways we hope small fry will act and the ways they do. In chapters covering fraught topics such as restaurant manners and proper behavior at the beach, Ephron's multiple-choice responses to crucial etiquette questions run the gamut of acceptable and not-so-social deportment. Everyone involved with children will recognize and enjoy (if ruefully) the trials so humorously presented by writer and artist. 50,000 first printing; first serial to Redbook and the New York Times; BOMC alternate.