By Harshitha Kothapalli – Editor-in-Chief

Jonathan Law Paraprofessional Mr. Greenbaum has taken his talents beyond the classroom with the release of his first book, “The Joy of Words.” 

The book is available in both softcover and hardcover on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, and Bookshop.org. In a generous gesture, Greenbaum also donated a copy to the school library for any students or staff interested in reading it. 

“‘The Joy of Words,” is about 50 pages long (haha),” Greenbaum said. “The book expresses the humor that I find in words, and the joy of learning new vocabulary. For example: ‘Here is a sentence using the words hummus and attune. I asked my friend to hummus attune that he heard on the radio.’”

Beyond writing and self-publishing his work, Greenbaum is donating all proceeds from book sales to the American Cancer Society. He said the book took him months to complete.

“I wrote ideas on paper for several months,” Greenbaum said. “Then, I rewrote, edited, and deleted the text until I was satisfied with what I had written.”

Greenbaum said writing “The Joy of Words” was rewarding in many ways.

“There were two parts of writing the book that were fulfilling,” Greenbaum said. “One was the creative process of expressing myself. The other was the joy of creating the illustrations. I was thrilled to find AI image software from a company called Craiyon, which was able to create illustrations in the style of artists such as van Gogh, Monet, Audubon and others that I had seen in museums. The intention was to offer readers the opportunity to search these artists and enjoy their  works.”

The biggest hurdle Greenbaum faced was trying to get the book published once it was written.

“The traditional route is to find a publishing agent who will accept the manuscript and then market the book to major publishers,” Greenbaum said. “I did not succeed, but I was able to get my book self-published.”

Greenbaum said he will continue to write – and is already coming up with ideas for a second book.

“My family has provided some suggestions, and I hope to get started soon on a new book,” Greenbaum said.