Hello Readers!

Have you ever needed to right a wrong? ... Write its story. Tell its truth. Don’t hold back.

Let's book talk! I'll go first. Since you're here, you might as well learn about my first novel, As Good As Bread, which in Italian means As Good As Gold. This story stirred inside me for over a decade (mostly causing massive indigestion and insomnia). I knew I had to write it, but I didn't know how. Then I remembered my grandmother's Italian wisdom. Nonna always said, Meglio un giorno da leone che cento da pecora. ~ Better one day as a lion than a hundred as a sheep. So I put on my big girl pants and wrote this book!

AS GOOD AS BREAD

Have you ever blurted something unspeakable? Did you instantly regret it, but then it was too late?

Mario "Ari" D'Auria, the impulsive kid with ADHD, has been expelled from eighth grade at Bay Harbor Day School for saying something stupid, something awful, something he immediately regrets. He would never act on these words--his ADHD just blurted them! And he just wants to take them back.

Everyone at school knows Ari as the kid without a mom whose nonna packs him the most delicious homemade lunches. He's the one whose immigrant dad maintains the golf course across the street. Everyone at school knows Ari is harmless. He's mostly a loner, an easy target; he just can't control his volcano-mouth eruptions. But after Ari is goaded into saying he'll shoot up the school, the community vilifies him. And when parents don’t know the whole truth, rumors escalate, board members get involved, and (harmless or not) Ari must be expelled.

To help alleviate the shame and regret that consume him, Ari escapes into the classical mythology he first fell in love with in Latin, his favorite class. He finds himself relating to Asterion the Minotaur and Medusa the Gorgon, and like these tragic characters, Ari is not simply the monster everyone now sees him as. Most of Bay Harbor doesn't even know what really happened that day. And Ari has always had kindness in his heart. He has always been good. Like Nonna always says, Lui è buono come il pane. ~ He is as good as bread.

Based on a true story set on the exclusive barrier island of one-percenter South Florida, where cancel-culture thrives and even Nonna’s homemade Sunday sauce cannot satiate Ari’s gripping shame, As Good As Bread is a young adult novel in verse (with pinches of prose) offering readers an authentic dish of adolescent neurodivergence.

Readers with ADHD (like me) will see themselves in these pages, and we need more relatable stories of heroes, even antiheroes, who share our incredible superpowers in a powerfully unforgiving world. I hope Ari’s story will help every young reader understand that, for many of us with ADHD, acting out of control is often out of our control.

As Good As Bread is for anyone who’s ever made a mistake, the extreme lows that linger in the wake, and the unconditional bonds among family beyond the Sunday dinner table--when you need them most.

Sunday mornings

Nonna starts the sauce early.

That familiar smell

sautéeing the air

wakes me up

every Sunday.

I follow my nose.

It knows the scent of

thinly sliced garlic

crackling in olive oil,

splattering up the cooktop,

smacking my senses.

My bare feet hop

down our steep stairs

to Italian music playing

and San Marzanos sizzling,

the pomi d’oro,

the sweet golden apples—

crushed red chunks

my grandmother pours

from a giant can

into a cast iron pot

every Sunday.

San Marzanos are

the Ferrari of tomatoes.

Their skin even comes in rosso corsa,

the original racing red—

hot, fast, and flashy,

the national color of Italy.

Sunday dinner’s at three.

Don’t be late!

Death of Emilia

I’m frozen

in the doorway.

I want to shut off

my whole body.

Flip the switch.

Cut the sound.

I squeeze my eyes

and clench my jaw

and turn around to get in

one last dig.

Emilia’s holding her hips

and pursing her lips

like the drama queen she is.

My weapon’s at her feet.

I don’t pick up the evidence.

Instead, my voice flips to offensive.

YOU are not my mom, Emilia!

YOU set the table!

I storm into the den

and park my butt on the couch

between Peppe and Babbo,

two soccer-crazed D’Aurias

yelling at the TV.

(The refs can’t hear you in Italy!)

The crowd’s cheering catches fire.

Napoli’s about to score.

Dai! Dai! Dai!

chants through the townhouse.

I wish Emilia would

Die! Die! Die!

I picture her funeral—

Me, Nonna, Babbo,

Zia Sofia, Zio Enzo,

Peppe, and Dominic.

First pew.

Front and center.

All in black.

No Emilia.

My chest tightens.

Ok, I don’t really want my cousin to die.

I just want her to realize

how much her words can set me off

(even though we both know they’re true).

Over Sunday Dinner

We sit in our usual seats

at the long wooden table

in our small dining room.

Every room in this place is small.

It makes eavesdropping way too easy.

Emilia’s insult repeats

over and

over and I’m

over it. I’m

over her. I’m

overwhelmed and

overpowered and

overstressed and

overshadowed, and it’s all

over this endless echo

over and

over and—

Why are you so hyperactive?

Emilia’s voice

overruns my head. It’s an

overflow I can’t

overcome.

Does she even know

where hyperactive comes from?

always plotting something

Hello Readers!

Have you ever needed to right a wrong? ... Write its story. Tell its truth. Don’t hold back.

AS GOOD AS BREAD

Have you ever blurted something unspeakable? Did you instantly regret it, but then it was too late?

AS GOOD AS BREAD

Sunday mornings

AS GOOD AS BREAD

Death of Emilia

AS GOOD AS BREAD

Over Sunday Dinner

AS GOOD AS BREAD

Over Word Origins

AS GOOD AS BREAD

Inspirations

"Whatever we think we're trying to protect kids from, they're already experiencing. And it is our job to help them name it, to help them understand it."

always plotting something

Hello Readers!

Have you ever needed to right a wrong? ... Write its story. Tell its truth. Don’t hold back.

AS GOOD AS BREAD

Have you ever blurted something unspeakable? Did you instantly regret it, but then it was too late?

AS GOOD AS BREAD

Sunday mornings

AS GOOD AS BREAD

Death of Emilia

AS GOOD AS BREAD

Over Sunday Dinner

AS GOOD AS BREAD

Over Word Origins

AS GOOD AS BREAD

Inspirations

"Whatever we think we're trying to protect kids from, they're already experiencing. And it is our job to help them name it, to help them understand it."

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