Several years ago, I began writing and publishing children’s books about the environment with the goal of inspiring both children and parents to become proactive stewards of our planet. From an early age, my parents instilled in me the importance of taking initiative when it comes to protecting our natural world and finding real solutions to environmental challenges.

More than twenty years ago, I founded the nonprofit organization Community Health and Environment Coalition to address the alarming rates of cancer and disease and their potential links to environmental factors. This advocacy led to New York State’s Cancer Surveillance Investigation, a critical step in addressing environmental health risks.

As a Suffolk County Legislator, I advanced this mission by sponsoring key legislation to: preserve open space and farmland, increase enforcement for illegal dumping and groundwater contamination, and reduced surface water pollution. In addition, I worked to empower and educate young people, encouraging them to take an active role in environmental protection through initiatives such as participating beach cleanups, conservation programs, and community sustainability projects. Together, we can create lasting change. Everyone has the power to make a difference!

Creative Child Awards Book of the Year

Below the Ocean: Keeping Our Sea Friends Safe

The first of the series, Below the Ocean: Keeping Our Sea Friends Safe, provides an engaging story about a young seal and her encounter with ocean pollution. She becomes entangled in a helium balloon string and seeks help by her teacher who educates her on ocean pollution. The book encourages children and their parents to be environmental stewards by picking up garbage at the beach, lakes, and other bodies of water, and recycling plastics. Creative Child Magazine Book of the Year.

Below the Ocean: Being Part of the Whole

It's no fun being bullied. Most children and adults have been bullied at some point in their life. In Below the Ocean: Being Part of the Whole, Zang overcomes bullying by developing important skills and ends up saving the day. He learns that helping others is what friendship is all about.

Reading Rainbow Writers and Illustrators Award Winner

The Garbage Can That Blew Away

With over 8 billion people in the world, we create a lot of garbage that ends up buried in landfills or dumped in our ocean. The Garbage Can that Blew Away, encourages us to recycle, and with the help from our woodland animal friends, we learn how our garbage can be recycled in very creative ways.