Happy New Year.

Dear Readers,

Hope you had a wonderful and healthy and happy New Year. Do you have any traditions for the New Year? My family and I do. We open our doors to let the New Year in and the Old Year out, at midnight, we throw dishes and cups out the window, we make a lot of noise by blowing our horns and whistles as we stroll through the house, and our Aunt Olimpia and Uncle Domenico come, playing the accordion and blowing the horn. Before we do all this, we sit and talk with each other at the family table, and we have cold cut sandwiches, nuts, cakes(fruitcake, etc.) and soda or champagne at midnight. Aunt Sylvia and Uncle Severino also come to join in the festivities.

Do you do anything special on New Year's Day? Besides picking up the broken dishes and cups from the night before, we eat a dish of Lentil Soup which is supposed to make you Rich in the New Year.

I feel I am already Rich. I am Blessed with a caring, loving and supportive wife named Anna, (we've been married 26 years, and last year, on our 25th, we took a
Perillo tour of Italy. We felt like we were on a second honeymoon.

I am also blessed to have my parents, Lucy and Silverio. Their outpouring of love to me made me what I am today---- A retired teacher and a children's picture book writer.

I am blessed to have a great brother, Vincent, who would do anything for me. So would my Aunt Susie. I call her the "brains` of the family."

Cousins- I have an overabundance of cousins-- Lucia and Joe, with their three children, Chelsea, Claudia and Cinthia; Madalene and Gerard, with their daughter Valerie; Olimpia and Vincenzo, with their children, Olivia, and Vincenzo, Jr.; and cousin, Gelsomina, a physical therapist, and a damn good one.

I also have Frankie, Silvio, Mima, Larry Sr., and their three children---Larry Jr.,
Nicholas, and Christopher. I've tutored Nicholas when he was in the second grade. Now, Larry Jr. and Nicholas have graduated from college and have good salaries. Christopher is doing very well in high school.

Anna and I Babysit for Olimpia's two children, Olivia and Vincenzo, Jr. WE also
Babysit for the newest baby in our family----Gianni, 2 years old, and son of Maryann and Christopher. Gianni gives us so much joy.

We are a close-knit family.

We are also blessed with so many friends through the years--our teacher friends, Sabra and Jerry from Nanuet, Tony from Pelham Parkway, Kathy from Connecticut, Connie from Riverdale, Sal and Fran from Goshen. These have been our friends for the past 30 years. I also have a friend from Freehold, New Jersey and his name is David. We went to college together, became teachers together, and then we taught in different schools. He left teaching to go into the Computer field, and he has been very successful. We've been friends now for 41 years. His wife, Susan, is a primary school teacher.

These friends mentioned are True friends. You only need 1 friend, but we've been fortunate to have so many.

A dear childhood friend of mine is Joanie. WE sort of grew up together, enjoyed the same things--movies, theatre, tennis, bowling, television award ceremonies like the Oscars, classic movies, going to restaurants, etc. Sometimes, we'd go to see 2 movies and squeeze in a play in one day. We enjoyed dancing and going to weddings. When I married Anna, Joanie and Anna became good friends, too. Joanie and Michel are good friends, and we are now Michel's friends.

Do you keep in touch with your friends from grammar school? I do. I
went to Our Lady of Pity School(now closed), and I keep in touch with several friends, Denise and Mike, Phyllis, Lorraine, Ralph, Carmela, RoseAnn and Vinny.


Dear Readers,
Your children can read about almost anything---- New Year, tradition, family,
friends, school, brothers and sisters, tutoring, Mom, Dad, cousins, babies, college,
computers, vacation and favorite activities.


The two books I recommend for this week are:

1. Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day- Jamie Lee Curtis.
It is illustrated by Laura Cornell, and it is published by Joanna
Cotler Books, 1998, and it is recommended for children, ages 4-8.

This story is about the different moods children experience in their lives. Moods somehow change the day.

The story is in Rhyme, and the illustrations are huge and colorful.


Here's two lines from the book:

Today I'm excited there's so much to do,
I'm going to sell cookies and lemonade too.

The book is fun to read. Each page covers a variety of moods, and there is so much activity going on each page.


The second book I recommend is: Subway-Anastasia Suen.

It is illustrated by Karen Katz, published by Viking in 2004, and it is recommended for children, ages 3 and up.

The pictures are huge and colorful. The sights and sounds of the Subway give your child a good idea of what it is like to travel on a subway.

Here are four lines from the book:

tickets in
turnstiles spin
walk, walk, walk
to the subway


Happy and Healthy and Blessed New Year to Everyone.

God bless.

Sincerely,
Ravenous Reader ( a.k.a. Frankie )