Grumpy Mood Proves Beneficial For 16-Year-Old Author

BURLESON (CBSDFW.COM) - Can grumpy be a good thing?

For one 16-year-old Burleson gir, her once-grouchy outlook has turned into a quick-selling new book.

The Grumpy Girl's Guide to Good Manners was released Feb. 14 and is already climbing the charts as a popular children's story.

The book is based on the real-life summer experience of the 16-year-old author, Rachel Aboukhair.

"It's a true story of when I went to etiquette camp when I was fifteen," she explained. "I had a major attitude and my mom claimed that I did not socialize well with other people, I was too sarcastic. She sent me there to make me a bit more proper, a bit more social."

The 88-page book is filled with the same charm and wit that the Burleson teenager exudes in person.

"It's adorable, it's funny, it's entertaining yet also instructive," her mother, Ragida Aboukhair, said. "I think it struck a chord with people."

Being a published author wasn't Rachel's original plan when she started writing the book. It was simply a home-school assignment, she said.

"I had to write two pages a day of anything; it could be about anything," she said.

What better topic for the now-poised young lady than the etiquette camp she once dreaded?

"Well Rachel had a little bit of an attitude, so I hired an etiquette teacher to come the house to teach her etiquette and it didn't take," her mother said with a laugh, "so we had to take the more drastic route of week-long camp."

It took, her mother said. That effort paid off, not only in the manners department, but also in the form of a publishing contract.

The book was a recommended new release on Amazon.com even before it hit shelves. It is available at Barnes & Noble, on Amazon, and through Rachel's own website, thegrumpygirlsguide.com.

"I definitely see her doing this in the future," Ragida said, "she has a talent for it."

She's already working on the second book in what she hopes will be a series.

It will focus on the final years of high school, preparing to take the SAT's and getting ready for college.

"I've always wanted to be a writer and I hope to continue writing," Rachel added.