From reader to writer

Reading was prized in Sarah Lamstein's house while she was growing up in Detroit.

Now 61, the former English teacher and school librarian is a children's book author.

The Boston Authors Club named her fourth book, ''Hunger Moon," as a finalist for its annual young readers book award last month.

''I love working with language, and I love expressing emotion," the Newton resident said. ''Those are the two things writing allows me to do."

Lamstein's late parents, who owned bookstores in Detroit, encouraged her interest in writing.

''Whenever something unusual or funny happened, my mother used to point at me and say, 'You should write about it,' " Lamstein said.

Listening to her father tell stories as they walked to synagogue Saturday mornings was a high point of her week. A book collector and avid reader, he wrote adult fiction. A Hollywood studio optioned one of his short stories, but didn't make a movie.

''I was chosen, as the oldest, to read his stories that were completed to the rest of the family, and that was always a very exciting thing," Lamstein said. ''It was precious times."

Lamstein's inspiration for her first children's book came while living in Nepal with her husband and children during the summers of 1976 and 1982. Joel Lamstein was on assignment for John Snow Inc., a Boston company he cofounded that provides technical and managerial assistance to public health programs.

''It was remarkably beautiful and exotic," she said. ''I wanted to share the country with family and friends back home, and I decided to do it through the folk literature."

Lamstein collaborated on ''From the Mango Tree and Other Folktales from Nepal" with Kavita Ram Shrestha, a Nepalese writer who collected and translated 15 tales. Lamstein reworked them for an English-language audience, wrote the book's introduction, and gathered its photographs, taken in Nepal by family and friends. Libraries Unlimited published the book in 1997.

It was a 20-year project for the mother of three. Lamstein was a school librarian from 1982 to 2000 and has been a puppeteer for 31 years, performing at the Puppet Showplace Theatre in Brookline, schools, and libraries.

It was about five years back, and with three books to her credit, that she decided to devote herself to writing. She enrolled in Vermont College's master of fine arts program in writing for children and young adults.

''I remember the very first lecture in the program," Lamstein said. ''I just was overwhelmed with a kind of joy, and I almost started to cry. I'm here, and all of the people are engaged in what I'm engaged in, and they realize the importance of it. It just felt very full."

''Hunger Moon" started to take shape soon after. The story centers on 12-year-old Ruthie Tepper and her Chicago family in 1954, and there are growing tensions about work, money, and the welfare of Ruthie's developmentally disabled brother.

''Hunger Moon" is fiction, but based on her own experiences, according to Lamstein. She had thought back to when she was 12 and had once intentionally frightened her own developmentally disabled younger brother.

''The passage in the book where the girl scares her brother is not as bad," she said. ''I tried to figure out why this character would do such a thing, because I didn't know why I did it. I was able to understand I was writing more about the girl's relationship with her mother, and that's basically the heart of the novel."

Charlesbridge Publishing of Watertown will release Lamstein's fifth book next year -- ''Sleepy Birds," a lyrical treatment of how birds sleep. Front Street plans to publish her Hanukkah tale, ''Letter on the Wind," and a book about salamanders is in the works.

Lamstein says her affinity for writing books for children, rather than adults, perhaps can be attributed to a ''teacherly" instinct.

''It's about sharing passion," she said. ''There's a lot of great stuff in the world; let me tell you about it."

For more information about Lamstein, visit her website at www.sarahlamstein.com.

OFFICER FOR THE PEOPLE -- Ask Edward Arena what makes him a good cop, and the 2005 Natick Officer of the Year is at a loss for words.

Arena says police officers need to be good listeners and have common sense, but adds that he's not really comfortable being singled out for an award. From his fellow officers and supervisors, to the dispatchers and mechanics, many others have played a role in his 11 years on the force, according to the Natick native.

''You can't do this job alone," said Arena, 34. ''It takes a lot of people to put one cop out on the road."

Police Chief Dennis Mannix says Arena particularly stands out for his ability to relate to people of all ages, noting that the department has received numerous letters from citizens praising his actions in traumatic situations.

''I knew when we hired him he was the right fit for the department, because we're really a community-oriented department, and he enjoys interacting with the community," said Mannix, who approved Arena's nomination for the award by a committee of supervisors.

Arena says he learned patience and empathy from his previous job as a teacher's aide for a special education collaborative at Westwood High School. He helped high school students with significant physical disabilities and watched what their families went through.

After joining the Police Department, Arena earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a master's degree in criminal justice administration from Western New England College in Springfield.

As a patrolman on the evening shift, Arena typically deals with traffic complaints, alarms, motor vehicle stops, and 911 calls.

''You're not stuck behind a desk, and you're getting out there," he said. ''Not too many people get this opportunity, and I try to appreciate it and do a good job."

Arena acknowledges it can be difficult to police in his hometown, where calls sometimes involve people he knows.

''People are usually understanding that I have a job to do," he said. ''The people of Natick are really good to me, and I know a lot of them. I think sometimes they enjoy seeing a familiar face at their door or out in traffic."

He finds responding to domestic disturbances the most difficult part of his duties.

''You're a stranger walking completely into somebody else's family life, and you're trying to get knee-deep into their personal issues," he said. ''Domestics are never fun, and it's even worse when kids are involved."

He's required a few stitches and been bitten by a Rottweiler, but Arena says he can vent job stress with fellow officers and rely on his large family for support.

''You try to block it out," said Arena, the youngest of six children. ''Ultimately, you do feel good about what you do every day -- that you tried to right a wrong. Maybe you helped somebody that didn't know where they should go. Sometimes you can resolve a problem for somebody that's not even a police problem."

AROUND THE TOWNS -- The YWCA Boston honored Alice Chiang and Susan Lewis Solomont of Weston and Gloria Nemerowicz of Wayland with Academy of Women Achiever Awards on June 14. Chiang is president and chief executive of Teratech Corp. in Burlington, which she founded in 1994. The company develops real-time signal processing technology used in telecommunications; sonar and radar processing; and digital video and ultrasound systems. Solomont is a senior fellow at The Philanthropic Initiative Inc., a Boston not-for-profit that helps design and evaluate philanthropic programs, and she served as corporate development director for WGBH-TV and radio from 1981 to 1996. Nemerowicz became the ninth president of Pine Manor College in Brookline in 1996. She was founding director of the Women's Leadership Institute at Wells College in New York and held administrative posts and taught sociology at Monmouth University in New Jersey.

Marlborough resident and Harvard Extension School instructor Paul G. Bamberg received the Petra T. Shattuck Excellence in Teaching Award at Harvard University's commencement on June 9. Bamberg is a senior mathematics lecturer who was honored for 25 years of teaching in 1994 and received the Dean's Distinguished Service Award the following year.

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