Bad Habits!

Reach for this book when your child is testing boundaries, picking up unsavory habits from school, or finding 'naughty' behavior hilarious. Babette Cole uses her trademark absurdist humor to address the common phase where children find burping, nose-picking, and general rudeness to be the height of entertainment. It is a fantastic tool for parents who want to address etiquette without being preachy, using laughter as a bridge to discuss how our actions affect others. The story follows Lucretzia Crum, a girl whose bad habits are so contagious they threaten to turn everyone around her into literal monsters. While the behavior depicted is over-the-top, it mirrors the real-world frustration of peer influence and the 'rebellious phase' seen in 4 to 8-year-olds. By framing bad manners as a grotesque physical transformation, the book allows children to see the 'ugliness' of rudeness in a safe, fictionalized, and extremely funny context.