Lynn Cullen (Moi and Marie Antoinette) delivers a playful mash-up of the "Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation" and a fictional relationship between George Washington and his portrait artist's family.
Nancy Carpenter (Lucky Ducklings) plants clues to the chaos to follow. Readers see Washington from the back, in full uniform and powdered white ponytail, as Gilbert Stuart paints his portrait. Three children peer through the window, precariously balanced on a cart. With the turn of the page, the children sail through the door, their dog pulls out Washington's hair ribbon, and their cat pounces on his shoulder. Washington departs by carriage as Charlotte, the artist's oldest child, pens a letter of apology. She also thanks him for the book he sent, Rules of Good Behavior for Boys and Girls. While a schoolboy, Washington copied down the 110 "Rules of Civility..." first recorded by Jesuits in 1595. Charlotte recites 10 of them in her letter (conflating Rules 97 & 98 into her #5: "Put not another bite into your Mouth until the first is Swallowed. Let not your Morsels be too big for the Jowls, nor talk with your mouth Full"). When Washington returns a week later, Charlotte's correspondence recounts his visit and demonstrates how well she and her brother followed "the Rules."
Readers will enjoy watching the president play straight man to the antics of the Stuart children. The siblings don't mean to be discourteous; they're simply rambunctious, which comes through in Charlotte's heartfelt letters and Carpenter's affectionate, boisterous pen-and-ink and acrylic illustrations. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness