For Raini Caravella, a well-loved bartender who has worked at Legends Restaurant in New Suffolk for over 20 years, writing and illustrating a children’s book was something she dreamed about for many years.
“I’ve always loved children’s books,” says Caravella. “I love reading them; there’s so much great stuff out there.”
This week, “Under the Wizard Moon,” an illustrated collection of bedtime and nature-inspired poems for children ages four to eight, arrived on the North Fork, but it’s something that has been in the works for a long time.
“I’ve been doing this for over 20 years,” said Caravella. “Some of the poems are older, some are newer.”
She was inspired to write the title poem of the book when a close friend of hers referred to the sliver of the crescent moon as a “wizard moon.” That became the centerpiece for the collection.
About two years ago, Caravella came very close to having a book published, but was forced to back out of the deal.
“I didn’t like the way the illustrations looked,” she says. “It was terrible and so disappointing. After that I quit for a while.”
But after being diagnosed with a serious illness this past spring, Caravella was motivated to get the book published and got down to work.
This time she chose to self-publish, enlisting the help of sister Nikki Caravella and niece Tristeen Caravella, both artists. Raini Caravella did about 15 of the illustrations herself, with Nikki helping out on several of them. “Sometimes I had an idea I knew Nikki would do a better job at, so she would draw it and I would do the color,” she says.
Tristeen Caravella helped out with the design of the book.
Known as “Aunt Raini” to her many nieces and nephews and their friends, Caravella chose that name to publish under and maintains an Aunt Raini Facebook page.
Caravella held a book signing at Legends over the weekend and says that sales were brisk.
“It’s only been out for a few days and it’s doing really well.”
“Under the Wizard Moon” will be sold locally at Summer Girl in New Suffolk and Burton’s Bookstore in Greenport. Caravella is working with several other retailers to make her book more widely available and is in the process of putting together a website where the book will soon be available for purchase.
Her second children’s book, “Night Begins to Sing,” will be out in early 2018.
