99-year old writes first children’s book, shows it’s never too late to try something new

At 99 years old, Rancho Santa Fe’s Naomi Pruzansky has become a first-time author, self-publishing her children’s book “A Jet Set Pet Named Penny”. The book shares the true tale of  her granddaughter and great-grandchildren’s beloved Boston terrier who traveled with them around the world, including stops in Sweden, Hong Kong, Toronto, Beverly Hills and, perhaps most importantly, grandma’s house in San Diego.

Despite her jet set lifestyle and international adventures, Penny is “not snobbish” Naomi writes. She is smart and friendly, loves hikes, playing fetch and unfortunately getting lost on occasion but always found.

“No one has commented on this, but I have observed a slight Bostonian twang in her bark!,” the book reads.

The book can be found at Camino Books in the Del Mar Village, on Amazon.com and on the shelves of the Rancho Santa Fe Library. Pruzansky celebrated the book’s release at a launch party with friends at a Del Mar home on Aug. 2.

“This is all new to me,” marveled Pruzansky. “I never dreamt of anything like this.”

A native New Yorker, Naomi is a long-time resident of Rancho Santa Fe, living in the same house for 30 years and hanging onto hints of her East Coast accent. She and her husband lived in Manhattan (she can still recall their West 71st Street address) before moving to Connecticut. His career in the music recording industry landed them in Los Angeles, where she raised her two children in Woodland Hills.

For 20 years, Pruzansky worked as an office manager in a medical office. She loved the work and continued on a temporary basis even after they moved down to San Diego in the 1990s.

In Rancho Santa Fe, Naomi is very social and stays busy: “All my friends are now my daughter’s age.” At 99, she plays bridge three times a week and is part of a knitting group called The Material Girls that gets together for creative endeavors and gossip. She loves interior decorating and keeping her home looking nice, enjoys doing crossword puzzles, and follows Padres baseball.

A new writer late in life, Pruzansky’s only other published work was back in 1939 when the New York Journal-American printed the then 13-year-old old’s essay “What Being an American Means to Me.”  The most writing she had done in the last few decades was correspondence with her treasured grandchildren and great-grandchildren, making up her own song lyrics and dialogues, exchanging heartfelt endearments with the family members spread out across the world, in places like Hong Kong, Ireland and Paris.

She has three grandchildren and seven great grandchildren, including the inspiration behind her book, granddaughter Dana and great grandchildren Benjamin, 14, and Dylan, 12. The family had moved every two years due to Dana’s husband’s work.

On her 99th birthday in February, Naomi was having lunch with her bridge buddy of 30 years Carmen Bianchi, telling her friend about her granddaughter’s family and the terrier who had traveled the world.

“Here we have this dog who leads a more interesting life than most of us,” she said.

Bianchi, a retired San Diego State University professor, listened to her beloved friend tell the story and got an idea: “You know what you have? You have a book!” She told Naomi that if she wrote the book, she would help her get it published.

Pruzansky went to work and wrote out the story on a few sheets of paper, in her neat cursive. With the story in hand, Bianchi helped find a publisher with Tellwell Talent Press and pick an illustrator, Kyle Completo, to bring the story to life. The printed books arrived in Rancho Santa Fe last week, to Naomi’s delight.

“I love it,” said Pruzansky, who has already gifted it to one friend as a baby gift.

Pruzansky said what’s most unique about the book is that no character has a name, except for Penny as she’s the star. As shared in the book’s epilogue, the family’s jetsetting days are behind them for now as they have settled a bit closer to their grandma and “GG” in Northern California.

At the Aug. 2 launch party, Naomi read and signed her new books. In the days leading up to the event, she took the time to practice penning some of the messages that she would write in the books, because she wanted each one to be special.

In her neat cursive, the sweet sentiments read:

“Never lose your love of reading.”

“May this story light up your imagination.”

“I treasure our friendship.”

And her favorite: “Let the magic begin.”