How to Negotiate Everything

by Lisa Lutz, Jaime Temairik (Illustrator)

Overview

There’ll be no more hearing “no” after this clever picture book teaches you how to get everything you want.

Have you ever wanted something and been told “No”? Then this is the book for you. Through several simple steps, you will learn the best way to ask for what you want, how to ask for more of what you want, and the importance of not overreaching. With helpful illustrations and a complete glossary, there is no end to what these skills can get you.

Straight out of the pages of the New York Times bestselling Trail of the Spellmans, authors David Spellman and Lisa Lutz and illustrator Jaime Temairik show you that it is possible to negotiate for everything. Even an elephant!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442451193
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	05/21/2013
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Lisa Lutz is the author of the New York Times bestselling, Edgar Award– and Macavity Award–nominated, and Alex Award–winning Spellman Files series, as well as the novels How to Start a Fire, The Passenger, and The Swallows. She lives and works in upstate New York.

Jaime Temairik is an illustrator in Seattle. How to Negotiate Everything is her first picture book.

Editorial Reviews

Fashioned as a motivational manual…this humorous book shows children how to turn the tables in their favor.

The New York Times Book Review - Pamela Paul

There are very few things in life that you can’t get if you ask for them in a rational manner and offer something in return,” asserts Lutz in this story derived from her Spellman books for adults. “Author” David Spellman is a lawyer in that series, and the text and some artwork in this picture book appeared in 2012’s Trail of the Spellmans. With a child named Sammy as her example, Lutz shows readers how to eschew tantrums, manage expectations, and move Mom from “No” to “We’ll see” (readers are reminded that this phrase is “not binding”) to acquiescence. Temairik’s digital drawings tend toward the literal, though there are some clever moments (Sammy stands in an ankle-deep pool of tears in his initial tantrum, and various inside jokes and puns are tucked into the art). Lutz ignores her own advice and overreaches for a funny ending (Sammy negotiates his way to the presidency so he can get a pet elephant), but much of what’s in these pages hits the right notes of wit, nuance, and sophistication for an audience with a burgeoning sense of confidence. Ages 4–8. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Temper tantrums no longer working? "There are very few things in life that you can't get if you ask for them in a rational manner and offer something in return." Giving one of her fictional characters both the narrative voice and lead author credit, Lutz extracts canny principles from her adult novel Trail of the Spellmans (2011) that guide a lad named Sammy in dickering for ice cream and then a pet. Illustrated in large, simply drawn cartoons (some of which are drawn from the same source as the text), the negotiations demonstrate the sort of give-and-take required to reach an accommodation. These are embellished with side notes about managing expectations, sealing the deal ("The phrase ‘We'll see' is not binding"), setting realistic goals, the hazards of getting too aggressive and the value of persistence. This last is of particular importance if the chosen pet is, for instance, an elephant. The closing glossary both reinforces previously made guidelines and adds more: "Find out what your mark's weakness is (quiet, candy, wine, elephants) and you've got your negotiation in the bag." Firmly tongue in cheek, but even less sophisticated readers (and parents) should find these elemental suggestions helpful in getting to yes. (Picture book. 6-9, adult)

Kirkus Reviews