Rocky Point Middle School teacher Mr. John Mauceri has a powerful memory of when he was a young teacher in a private school and was gifted a rabbit, Cindy, for his fourth grade classroom. Growing up, his family had rabbits, so he knew how to take care of one. 

The students used to take Cindy home on weekends and holidays. “We had a journal that we kept so the students did some writing when Cindy was at their house,” Mr. Mauceri said. 

When Mr. Mauceri left that school, he brought the rabbit to his home. “My dad used to feed her ravioli and pasta; it was so funny, he loved her,” he said. “She ate everything. Cindy was crate trained and very spoiled.” 

Cindy lived until she was nine years old. 

His gift of Cindy was the brainchild for a story he decided to form into a book.  

Fast forward to 2023, when Mr. Mauceri’s wife encouraged him to send his finished piece off to a few publishers and all seven got in touch with him.

“They told me that nobody writes special education picture books and that was why they were interested,” Mr. Mauceri said. His book, “Cindy the Crooked-Toed Rabbit,” is a story about accepting people for who they are and not what they look like. It is also an opportunity for children to learn lessons about people’s differences in a diverse world.  

Mr. Mauceri dedicated the book to his son, Anthony, his wife, his parents and his grandfather. One of his primary reasons to write the book was to be a guest reader to Anthony’s class when he enters elementary school. When the book was released in January, it was the No. 1 new release children’s book on Amazon.