Ray Romano to Publish Children's Book With Simon & Schuster

Posted on January 2, 2004

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, has announced plans to publish the first book for children written by Ray Romano, comedian and Emmy Award-winning star of the top-rated CBS television program, Everybody Loves Raymond. Raymie, Dickie, and the Bean: Why I Love and Hate My Brothers, scheduled for publication in Fall 2004, is a funny and true story of why brothers can be gross, disgusting, and downright mean-but still love each other. Raymie, Dickie, and the Bean is based on Romano's experiences growing up with his two brothers, Richard, a retired New York police sergeant, and Robert, a New York City school teacher, who are writing the book with him. The book will be illustrated by children's book artist Glin Dibly.

The agreement was negotiated by Rick Richter, President & Publisher of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; Byron Preiss of Byron Preiss Visual Publications, which is producing the book; Romano's personal manager Rory Rosegarten, his agent Mel Berger of the William Morris Agency, and his attorney Jon Moonves, who represented Mr. Romano.

"When my brothers and I weren't fighting with each other, we had a lot of fun growing up," said Ray Romano. "Now it's great as adults to collaborate with them on this book and fight with each other once again."

Ray Romano admits that he always knew he could make his friends laugh, but he never really gave standup comedy any serious thought until an open-mike night at a New York comedy club in l984. He did well, the bug bit hard, and Romano was smitten. After several odd jobs, including futon mattress delivery boy, he decided to pursue comedy full time.

Romano's regular appearances at comedy clubs throughout the country led to guest spots on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, then with Jay Leno, and finally on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman, where host David Letterman recognized his talent and offered him a development deal with his production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. From that association, Everybody Loves Raymond was born.

For his role in Everybody Loves Raymond, Romano was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1999, 2000, 2001, and won an Emmy in 2002 as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Romano also was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy at the 1999 Golden Globe Awards. In 2003, Everybody Loves Raymond, for which Romano is an Executive Producer, was awarded the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series.

Romano stars in the upcoming feature film Welcome to Mooseport with Gene Hackman. The film is set for a February 6, 2004 release from Twentieth Century Fox. He also stars in the ensemble film "Eulogy" with Famke Janssen, Kelly Preston and Zooey Deschannel which is due this Spring. He is the author of the book Everything and a Kite (Bantam, 1999), based on his standup comedy. Romano, who is originally from Forest Hills, New York, now lives with his wife and four children in Los Angeles.

Byron Preiss Visual Publications, specializes in books for young readers. They produced Simon & Schuster's forthcoming If Roast Beef Could Fly (2004) by Tonight Show host Jay Leno and the current New York Times bestseller, Tell Me a Scary Story, but Not Too Scary by Carl Reiner (Little, Brown). They are located New York.



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