Good Mannered Author Wins Mom's Choice Award

Children's author and former Franklin Lakes resident Cynthia Dokas Whipple has won the Mom's Choice Award for her book Merrilee Mannerly and her Magnificent Manners.

The book, cowritten by Whipple and her friend Mary Cashman, and illustrated by Meredith Johnson, tells the story of Merilee Mannerly, a young girl whose grandmother wrote "The Manefesto of Manners." When Princess Posy from the land of no manners moves next door, Merrilee helps to teach her new friend good manners.

The book teaches core values through real life situations presented in a fun and non-preachy. The lessons mirror those the authors' mothers gave taught them. For instance, when you get a gift, you should thank the giver, even if you don't like the gift or already have one. In the book, Princess Posy gets a present then rolls her eyes, saying she already has one.

"The book is to honor our mothers and inspired by our daughters," explained Whipple, a class of '84 alum of Ramapo.  "We didn't grow up with etiquette classes; we grew up with strong mothers who taught us about core values of kindness, gratitude and consideration of others, to think before you speak and to remember that other people's feelings matter. We wanted to pass that along to the next generation in a fun way."

Merrilee Mannerly and her Magnificent Manners is available at Bookends in Ridgewood, Acorn Books in Tenafly and Learning Express in Westfield, as well as a handful of stores in New York and Connecticut. Online, you can find it on amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com and borders.com, and on Pink and Brown Publishing's website.