{"id":197048,"date":"2026-04-14T17:13:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T17:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/197048\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T17:13:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T17:13:43","slug":"in-new-childrens-book-brooklyn-is-the-world-a-butterflys-journey-highlights-friendship-and-belonging-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/197048\/","title":{"rendered":"In new children\u2019s book \u2018Brooklyn is the World,\u2019 a butterfly\u2019s journey highlights friendship and belonging \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Screen\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Connie Gibilaro, author of \u2018Brooklyn is the World,\u2019 poses with her debut children\u2019s book inspired by her Brooklyn roots and her two children.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Connie Gibilaro<\/p>\n

Back-to-school season has come early this year with the release of the new children\u2019s book, \u201cBrooklyn is the World.\u201d Set in the spring, it follows a butterfly\u2019s journey through Brooklyn on a mission to find real friends.<\/p>\n

Attorney, mother of two and author Connie Gibilaro, a Bay Ridge native, wrote the book not only to highlight the borough\u2019s beauty, but also to teach kids not to pine over those who reject them.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe even learn that lesson too late, people that fly away from us are just not meant for us,\u201d Gibilaro said. \u201cWe don\u2019t realize there are already people in our lives.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The first version of the book featured a butterfly leaving Brooklyn and traveling across the world to find a friend. But after her mother read the draft, Gibilaro realized the butterfly never needed to leave Brooklyn to explore the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother read it, and my mother had a very straight face, and she looks at me, and she goes, \u2018 Why doesn\u2019t the butterfly fly around Brooklyn, because Brooklyn is the world? \u2018\u201d Gibilaro said.<\/p>\n

That idea led to a three-year process to get the book published.
\n\"\"Artwork from \u2018Brooklyn is the World\u2019 reflects the detailed neighborhoods researched for the book.Photo courtesy of Connie Gibilaro\n<\/p>\n

To accurately represent the borough, Gibilaro spent significant time researching each neighborhood, allowing the illustrator she worked with to capture them in detail.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been very gratifying to hear from kids that their environment has been accurately shown in the book,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n

As the butterfly explores neighborhoods in search of friends, the pastel-colored illustrations give the backdrop a romantic feel. But Brooklyn itself serves as a silent character in the story, while the real message focuses on friendship.<\/p>\n

As a mother of two, Gibilaro drew inspiration from watching her children go out into the world and make friends on their own. And she\u2019s had to watch them face rejection.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou may put yourself out there, and they might run away from you,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to instill certain confidence in your kids.\u201d
\n\"\"An illustration from \u201cBrooklyn is the World\u201d shows a butterfly exploring the neighborhoods of Brooklyn in search of friendship.Image courtesy of Connie Gibilaro\n<\/p>\n

In a proud mommy moment, Gibilaro said she has watched her children navigate the world with confidence in who they are \u2014 the very message at the heart of the story, which she describes as a love letter to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was a story worth telling,\u201d she said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

To celebrate the book\u2019s release, Gibilaro hosted a launch party on Saturday, April 11 at Shell\u2019s Loft in Fort Greene.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cBrooklyn is the World\u201d is her first book, and she said she already has two more in mind \u2014 both approved by her toughest critics: her children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connie Gibilaro, author of \u2018Brooklyn is the World,\u2019 poses with her debut children\u2019s book inspired by her Brooklyn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197049,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[2571,78524,2878,98,23162,100,78525,99,35230,78526,67,78527,560,28312,78528,9,24,12,370,63,78529,78530],"class_list":{"0":"post-197048","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-arts-and-entertainment","9":"tag-back-to-school-books","10":"tag-books","11":"tag-brooklyn","12":"tag-brooklyn-author","13":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","14":"tag-brooklyn-is-the-world","15":"tag-brooklyn-news","16":"tag-childrens-books","17":"tag-connie-gibilaro","18":"tag-education","19":"tag-indie-author","20":"tag-kids","21":"tag-kids-and-education","22":"tag-new-childrenu2019s-book-2026","23":"tag-new-york","24":"tag-new-york-city","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-newsletter","27":"tag-nyc","28":"tag-nyc-books","29":"tag-parenting-and-kids"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}