I had done a lot of different things before writing 'Pecorino's First Concert'. Then after I wrote 'Pecorino's First Concert' I still did a lot of different things. I coached Jr. High School basketball for ten years. I have written magazine articles, soap operas, a movie and once even wrote a fortune cookie. The fortune cookie was the best thing I ever wrote it said, "write a children's book". Which actually turned out to be my fortune! Weird how things work out that way.

I wrote 'Pecorino's First Concert' for my son's nursery school. The class liked it very much. So I had them draw pictures for it. Then one day I was stranded on a desert island with a group of children. We were sitting on the beach and I was telling a story that they liked very much. A mom said to me, "you should write a story." I said, "I did." And gave her 'Pecorino's First Concert'. When we were saved off the desert island she published it!

After that I wrote 'Pecorino Plays Ball' which I wrote because that was how I remembered my baseball shirt reading when I was a skinny kid. It said, "ing's hina in" which really read - "Hings China Inn"! Which was the restaurant I used to write fortune cookies for and played baseball for. Weird how things work out that way.

One day I was sitting with my daughter and her friend on my lap in the subway, which is an underground train, waiting for it to come and take us to Coney Island, which is an amusement park. We were bored so I started to tell them a story which turned out to be my next book which was "The Littlest Grape Stomper." Finally the subway came and took us to Coney Island. We had a great time and rode many many rides. That book is dedicated to them because they were such good listeners.

'Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly' came to me in a dream. I dreamt about a girl with a butterfly stuck on her finger. Then the dream turned into a nightmare because the butterfly stayed there forever! I decided to write the dream part because the nightmare part was too scary for even me. Now I am working on another story for Velma. Last night I had a dream about a frog sitting on her little red head... but I don't think that will make for such a good story.

I was traveling for my other work which at that time was producing videos for the 'Emeril Live Show' on TV. My job was to travel around the country eating really great things and meeting very interesting people then videotaping them so they could be on TV. One day I was doing a show on cooking with kids. Which I must say is a lot of fun! I was making halibut with a little girl. Halibut is a really funny word because it has the word 'but' in it. Which can be a really funny word. The little girl who I was videotaping said to me, "My dad just got home form being away for 100 days and 99 nights." Right when I heard it I knew that I would call my next book that. It turned out that her dad was in the military and that is why he was away. After talking with her some more I found out that she was very sad because he might have to go away again! So I wrote that book for kids whose parents have to go away a lot.

Now besides writing more children's books and more fortune cookies I work a lot making TV shows about food and other things. I get to travel around, eat a lot of great food, meet interesting people and videotape shows about them. It's lots of fun.

I live in New York City, which as you know is very big, with my wife who as you know is very small, two children who are medium sized, my dog Lola, who likes to dance the tango on Sundays, and my troll, Seymour. If you ever come and visit you can dance with Lola on Sunday and sleep in the guest room with Seymour. If you can stand the smell... and the kicking.

A lot of times, because New York City is so big, I get lost. So if you see me wandering around the streets please point me home so I can get busy writing another story.