Maplewood Mom, Moving From Brooklyn, Pens Paean To Son's Day Care

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Moving from the city to the suburbs can be tough: trading convenience, nearby friends, and constant activity for grass and cars and (often) a longer commute. In New Jersey, "M-towns" such as Maplewood and Madison are popular destinations for growing families who leave locales like New York and Hoboken, but the big move doesn't come without hesitation.

Maplewood-based novelist Caroline Zancan wrote about one aspect of that transition in Thursday's New York Times Parenting section — watching her son say goodbye to the Brooklyn day care pals and teachers he'd known since he was an infant. Her essay is here.

Zancan, whose second novel was published this month, will also appear at a Maplewood book store in February to do a signing and Q&A. Her appearance at Words Bookstore (which just became a finalist for Publishers Weekly's "Bookstore of the Year"!) will take place on Feb. 27 at 7 p.m.

Her new novel is described as "An exhilarating novel about a group of students who take revenge on a wunderkind professor after she destroys one of their own — a story of collective drive to create, sabotage, and ultimately, to love."

More information about the appearance can be found here.

Got news in Maplewood? Email caren.lissner@Patch.com