After 9/11, he found his way to Merry Lane

By Aileen Jacobson
Staff Writer

October 16, 2005

Many monsters emerged from the events of 9/11, but few, if any, have the charm of "A Monster Named Criney Who Makes Kids Whiney."

That's the title of a children's book that likely would never have been published - and certainly not the way it has been - were it not for that tragedy.

So how do we get from devastation to a kooky purple ogre - and to "My Dad Wears Polka-Dotted Socks!" and "King Bartholomew and the Jester's Riddle," two volumes that share Criney's history? The answer lies with Alan Halpern, a Jericho resident who, after the fall of the Twin Towers, decided to follow his dream of publishing children's books. He calls his new enterprise Merry Lane Press, after the street where he lives.

"I thought that was a happy name. It has a nice ring to it," says Halpern, 67, father of two grown children and grandfather of six.

Halpern's decision was not just existential - who didn't feel now-or-never pangs in those days? - but practical as well. Business was down at his Manhattan marketing and promotion firm, The Halpern Group, and he already had in place a team that knows how to create brochures and other presentations. "The excitement is incredible," says Al Battista, 64, of Baldwin, who has worked as Halpern's creative director for more than 35 years and performs the same function in the publishing venture. "It's a lot of fun." Their computer graphics expert, Peter Sun, of Forest Hills, also works on the books.

The first three are out now. Last month, two of the authors Halpern selected spoke with kindergarten through fifth- graders at the Watson School, a public school in Rockville Centre, on "The Making of a Children's Book." This week, each of those authors will appear at a Long Island Borders bookstore to read from and speak about her book.

When the books were being developed, Halpern sent them to a few Long Island schools to get feedback from children. Both his wife and Battista's are teachers, so they consulted, too.

But all is not homespun: Merry Lane had a booth at June's BookExpo 2005, the book industry's largest event; the books have gotten reviewed in a few places; Halpern is trying to get them featured on "Oprah" - he got an encouraging call from her friend Gayle King, he says, and is pursuing the TV show.

"What better way to have ourselves as our own client?" marketing guru Halpern asks. Books by other authors are under way, he says, as are sequels to the first three. Related dolls, clothing and a song are on drawing boards; plays or puppet shows are being discussed.

Halpern felt many children's books lack a "life lesson," which he sought for his books. As befits an idiosyncratic undertaking, each book has its own story.

Criney came to him through his daughter-in-law, Jill Halpern, who taught in the same Manhattan elementary school as the book's author, Heather Zuckerman. "This was the first book I wrote," says Zuckerman, who has three children and lives in Westchester. "I wrote it to read to my kids, to find a way to talk to them about whining without anyone getting mad, in a humorous way." When Criney stops near a home, according to her tale, kids inside get cranky. But laughter breaks the hex.

"I showed it to Jill. I was in the process of kind of looking for an agent, looking into what I would need to do, when she turned to me at my kids' birthday party [Zuckerman's twins were turning 3] and said, 'Should I show it to my father-in-law?' I said, 'I dare you.'"

Halpern loved it and found illustrator Shelly Meridith Delice through trade publications he uses for his marketing firm. He found an editor, who lives in California, through another organization.

His second author was recommended by his doctor, Daniel Kassan, who had asked if he planned to retire. Quite the opposite, Halpern replied, he was launching a publishing house. The doctor, it turned out, knew a neighbor in Manhattan, where he lives, who was an aspiring author.

Pina Mastromonaco says she'd been writing children's books for five years and had "enough rejection letters to wallpaper my apartment" when her neighbor told her, "Look, I have a patient...."

She submitted three manuscripts, and Halpern selected the one about King Bartholomew, a childlike monarch who learns to share. Mastromonaco, who is now pregnant, says she admires Halpern: "He's an optimistic man. Nothing is ever impossible with him, no matter what we talk about.... He puts his heart and soul into this."

Halpern met David Martin, the illustrator for "Batholomew," during a vacation in New Mexico, when he visited an Albuquerque gallery showing Martin's work. Later, in Santa Fe, he was approached by a local woman who saw him reading children's books at his hotel pool and asked if he was in the children's book business.

Kristin Joy Humes, a business consultant, personal and professional coach and a mother of two, submitted her story about families, tolerance and polka-dotted socks. Another Merry Lane book, illustrated by Loel Barr, was born.

Pina Mastromonaco reads "King Bartholomew and the Jester's Riddle," 11 a.m. Thursday at Borders, 5151 Sunrise Hwy., Bohemia, 631-244-7496. Heather Zuckerman reads "A Monster Named Criney," 11 a.m. Friday at Borders, 1260 Old Country Rd. Westbury, 516-683-8700.