How Not to Be a D*ck: An Everyday Etiquette Guide

From Booklist *Starred Review* Really? An etiquette book for teens? Yes, really, you butt-faced jerk! See, that right there is “dickish behavior,” a timeless plague for which Doherty has a cabinet full of cures. The atmosphere is pure Dick-and-Jane: fussy early-reader prose married to bland clip-art-style illustrations starring a deadpan boy and girl. Through these oldfangled characters, Doherty fires absurd twenty-first-century zingers that happen to be really, really, really funny. (When was the last time you LOL’d at a nonfiction book?) Droll humor is one thing, but does Doherty deliver substance? Shockingly, she does, offering teens blunt, no-nonsense advice on the adult world that awaits them. Examples: don’t stare at a female's boobs during conversation, avoid passive-aggressive Post-its, try to smell like “nothing in particular” if you work in the service industry, don’t recline your airplane chair all the way, and on and on. She even drops some mega-wisdom bombs; regarding faith, she writes, “Believing in an idea is kind of like falling in love with a person—it just seems right, even if we can’t explain it.” Given the emphasis on roommates, office parties, and alcohol, this is clearly the gift book for next year’s high-school and college grads. After all, we all need the occasional reminder that peeing in the shower is wrong. Grades 10-12. --Daniel Kraus “Really? An etiquette book for teens? Yes, really, you butt-faced jerk! See, that right there is 'dickish behavior,' a timeless plague for which Doherty has a cabinet full of cures. The atmosphere is pure Dick and Jane: fussy early-reader prose married to bland clip-art-style illustrations starring a deadpan boy and girl. Through these old-fangled characters, Doherty fires absurd twenty-first-century zingers that happen to be really, really, really funny. (When was the last time you LOL’d at a nonfiction book?) Droll humor is one thing, but does Doherty deliver substance? Shockingly, she does, offering teens blunt, no-nonsense advice on the adult world that awaits them….Given the emphasis on roommates, office parties, and alcohol, this is clearly the gift book for next year’s high-school and college grads. After all, we all need the occasional reminder that peeing in the shower is wrong.” - Booklist (Starred Review) "Amen! - a parenting book for crummy parents like me. It's not so much a parenting book, per se - no, it really is an etiquette book. But the tone and language used is straightforward and speaks to teens and young adults in a manner that they understand. And all that stuff you learned in parenting class? It's back, and much more applicable than you thought. . . . The book is rated for 18+, but honest to God, I'll let my 12-year-old daughter read it. There's nothing inappropriate in terms of language or subject matter, I think, for middle schoolers, and frankly, that's where the seeds of dickishness are usually planted." - Chicago Now Meghan Doherty is an illustrator and designer whose work has appeared in books such as Super Pop! Pop Culture Top Ten Lists to Help You Win at Trivia , Survive in the Wild , and Make It Through the Holidays and on websites and posters for a variety of clients. She has contributed to the Brooklyn-based web magazine Brokelyn.com. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Read more