Cooking up a enjoyable story | Information, Sports activities, Jobs

Correspondent picture / Susan Wojnar
Author Nicholas D’Alesio of Youngstown poses together with his kids’s e book “The Littlest Ravioli.” The e book, impressed by tales his sons would make up, chronicles the travels and encounters of a ravioli smaller than most making an attempt to get to Little Ravioli Town. It was unveiled Saturday at Jimmy’s Italian Specialties in Liberty.

LIBERTY — A concentrated native mixture of artwork, enterprise and heritage was the important thing to the profitable e book launch of Nicholas D’Alesio’s kids’s e book, “The Littlest Ravioli” at Jimmy’s Italian Specialties on Belmont Avenue on Saturday.

The e book’s opening line, “Once upon a time there was a pasta chef,” is a nod towards the Italian tradition D’Alesio is aware of properly.

“Both of my parents are Italian and I grew up in the era when Italian pasta was homemade, especially ravioli. I can still remember my mom and grandmother making them on the counter all while teaching me how to do it. God, you didn’t want to make a mistake pressing the edges,” D’Alesio stated.

Having the launch at an Italian meals retailer appeared pure. D’Alesio approached Frank Occhibove, proprietor and supervisor of Jimmy’s Italian Specialties, in July to see if he would host the occasion. A mutual love of household and meals helped seal the deal.

Occhibove, whose mother and father, Jimmy and Irene, immigrated from Italy and began their enterprise in a storage on West Federal Street in 1974, stated he instantly obtained behind the concept.

“When Nicholas told me what the sales were so far, I said, ‘We can do better than that,’” Occhibove stated.

He thought a launch time nearer to the vacations can be probably the most useful.

The e book was impressed by two of D’Alesio’s sons, Lorenzo and Nicholas.

“My son Nicholas was having fun with Lorenzo while he was eating ravioli and Nicholas made up a story to tell Lorenzo about the littlest ravioli. I was listening and thought ‘Wow, that could be a good children’s story book.’ We have a picture of Lorenzo eating that is pictured in the book. He has the greatest expression on his face. He enjoys eating,” D’Alesio stated.

The story line revolves round a ravioli who’s shaped from a small little bit of leftover dough.

While on a journey to search out Little Ravioli Town, he passes via and makes mates with the sort residents of Spaghetti Town, Rotini Town, Farfalle Ville, Elbow City, Penne Place, Zitti Ville, Rigatoni Town and Rotelle.

“The writing process was just thinking about books we have for our children, looking at books in stores and thinking about what the parents and children reading the book would like to see. My daughter is a teacher for the targeted age group so she was instrumental with the writing concept as far as how the book can be used to develop reading skills all while having fun with the characters, which was my main goal,” D’Alesio stated.

The writer stated he would write down story strains to share with former Youngstown native illustrator Anne Gulfo, now of Austin Texas.

“Anne would do the design to fit the concept. We were always working for the ‘right feeling’ throughout the process. We wanted it to be connected to the characters but simple to follow and visualize. The flow was important as the character moved throughout the book,” D’Alesio stated.

Gulfo stated she obtained concerned with the undertaking via her membership chief, Dan Bancroft, at YSUScape, who handed her title onto D’Alesio. Bancroft knew that Gulfo’s love of pasta and Italian heritage would make her a pure match with D’Alesio’s idea.

Gulfo, who studied graphic design at Youngstown State University, stated she has been drawing all of her life.

“My dad owned the Giant Eagle in North Lima and he would take me to work often and I would be drawing on the styrofoam plates you use to package food,” she stated.

On the model of the illustrations, Gulfo stated, “I’m inspired by cartoons of my generation like SpongeBob and Adventure Time and thought of them when creating the main character. The Littlest Ravioli’s face is kind of like Finn from Adventure Time and he has a bow tie that pays homage to SpongeBob,” Gulfo stated.

She expressed appreciation for her father Eugene Gulfo’s help and encouragement of her pursuit of artwork.

“I hope he is proud of me,” she stated.

Also concerned within the e book undertaking is Jennifer McDonough, 38, of Austintown. She runs JLM Knits, and designed and created the little yellow crocheted “raviolis” which might be offered together with the e book. On her probability assembly with D’Alesio, McDonough stated, “I had a crochet booth set up at the Boardman Rotary Oktoberfest and Nick and his daughter Sophia visited my booth. We briefly chatted about the book and they took my card. A few days later, Sophia reached out via email and sent me a picture of the ravioli character. I worked up a pattern sample, we tweaked some details and then I began working on creating an original batch of 20.”

McDonough, who additionally has a personal apply as a speech pathologist, joked about not being Italian.

“I should be. It’s one of my favorite foods,” she stated.

D’Alesio expressed gratitude for the help of his household, particularly his daughter Sophia who manages the web site, places collectively focus teams for the e book and contributes to the general undertaking. The writer additionally praised the dedication, expertise and help of Occhibove, McDonough and Gulfo.

The e book will be ordered on-line at A coloring e book and the crocheted character can be found on the positioning as properly. The e book can also be accessible at Jimmy’s Italian Specialities.