A dinner date with an unruly family aims to help introduce children ages 3 to 8 to the benefits and blessings of proper behavior in The Splatters Learn Some Manners (978-0-736-92558-7, $16.99, Harvest House Publishers), releasing next month.

The hosts are a wild, wacky and messy bunch who, while embracing a zany world of utter chaos, also excel in the sloppy, inconsiderate art of rudeness. Their meals usually lean more toward free-for-all food fights and near-fisticuffs, with more of mom’s cooking ending up on the floor—and on the walls and in the children’s hair—than anywhere else.

But the family endures a crash course in manners after “The Duchess” sends them an invitation to join her for a fancy dinner.

Colorful artwork and characters and catchy rhyming text encouraging youngsters to read the story again and again cloak the book’s etiquette lessons on table manners, teamwork, cleanliness and proper language.

Author Marty Mokler Banks got the idea for the book while vacationing in Hawaii. Dining at an outside restaurant with her family one evening, she noticed how many children there were playing as they would if they were on the beach close by.

An editor and writer for more than 30 years, Banks has published adult and children’s fiction, poetry and magazine stories.

The 10-by-10-inch, 32-page hardcover can be ordered by calling Harvest House at 800-547-8979. For more information, visit www.harvesthousepublishers.com”.