Oneonta Native Returns To Share First Published Book

By BILL BELLEN
ONEONTA

The Huntington Memorial Library had quite the treat in store for its youthful visitors on Monday, July 21. Their programming for the day centered on a special guest presentation at 1 p.m. by certified child life specialist-turned-author Raye Pietruszka regarding her newly published children’s book, “ONLY I-Love-Yous!” Based on nightly conversations with her daughter throughout her youth, this story was the culmination of nearly a year and a half of consistent and persistent work on Pietruszka’s part to put together a piece she had been dreaming of for years.

When asked about her inspiration to pursue publication, Pietruszka said, “My children inspired me just because [“I-love-yous”] became so much of a living mantra every night before going to bed. It was obviously something that my youngest was relying on as a coping [mechanism] to kind of get through sleep. I thought, well, this might be helpful for other families to use this kind of concept … A big part of my job is to help make the scary not so scary, and help them understand what is happening to reduce some of that fear, bring more of an awareness and a knowledge to help them understand on their level what’s happening.”