The first line of Kathy Curto’s book says it all: “When I was growing up in southern New Jersey in the 1970s and 80s, there were days my mother floated through the halls of our brick ranch house leaving behind waves and wafts of curious and enticing aromas: Charlie, Wind Song and, if she’d been cooking all day, garlic.”

Curto is a Jersey Shore native, growing up in 1970s Toms River in a house off Brookside Drive. She attended Cedar Grove Elementary, Intermediate East, and Toms River High School East before moving out of state for college. While she may reside in New York’s Hudson Valley these days, Curto’s childhood is a long-time tenant in her mind. Her book “Not for Nothing: Glimpses Into A Jersey Girlhood” demonstrates how her memories of her childhood on the Jersey Shore have become a source of value, inspiration, and communication for the writer.