GOOD Things Come in Threes: Three Wilton Authors Pen New Children’s Books (and More Are in the Works)

A child’s anxiety before a test. A rescue dog finding a home. A song invented to soothe a toddler in the car. Each became the starting point for a children’s book by a Wilton author.

Three different Wilton women — therapist Amy Dickerson, teacher Marybeth Gioffre Nisco and opera singer Kate Goldbas — have recently published books with one thing in common: drawing on different parts of their lives to write for young readers. All three are already working on new books to add to their respective series.

Amy Dickerson knows little kids have big feelings

Amy Dickerson, a 16-year Wilton resident and licensed professional counselor, specializes in treating children and adolescents dealing with emotional issues. Her first book, Maya’s Big Feelings: Stressed for the Test, grew out of the test anxiety she saw again and again in her psychotherapy practice.

“Little kids are feeling it,” she said. “I had seen it so many times. I knew I needed to write a book about these feelings.”

In her latest book, Maya’s Big Feelings: Sad Granny is Gone, the subject matter came from Dickerson’s own family’s experience.

“My mom got sick and passed away suddenly in 2023, not long after I published the first book,” she said. “I saw how my nieces and my daughter really took her illness and death really hard.”

She found the writing process much more challenging than her first book.

“It was way more personal, making me feel really vulnerable, putting it out there,” she said. “It’s really the toughest thing I’ve ever done. Every time I went to work on it, it was like I went through the grieving process all over again.”

The books’ main character is Maya, a yellow lab. Dickerson deliberately chose to tell the story through an animal character rather than a person.

“Maya is my eight-year-old yellow lab, and she is my muse,” Dickerson said. “In child therapy, we often use toys or objects to tell a story, because it’s like one step removed — so it provides a little distance. Still getting the message, but it’s not as hard to hear.”

Maya’s “mama” is also important in the book, comforting Maya and validating what she’s feeling.

“I really wanted the mama character to model how I work in session, and how I teach my clients’ parents how to help their children regulate [emotions] in those moments,” she said.

For example, Maya and her mama go for a walk outside.

“I find movement to be very therapeutic, and being in nature is very healing,” Dickerson said.

A third book in the Maya’s Big Feelings series is already taking shape, drawn from another struggle Dickerson often sees in her practice: bedtime fears.

Dickerson doesn’t see the books as a business, but as an extension of her counseling, along with a parenting podcast, “Little Ones/Big Feelings with Amy Dickerson”.

“Honestly, it’s really my passion for helping kids and parents, and just wanting to get this out into the world,” she said.

The books are available on Amazon as well as on Dickerson’s website, which was recently redesigned by Wilton’s Sarah Beach. For photography, Dickerson chose to work with recent Wilton High School graduate Haldan Dickinson.

Marybeth Gioffre Nisco writes “gentle adventures” with a purpose

Long before she was a published author, Marybeth Gioffre Nisco was a kid who couldn’t put down her pen.

“I always had a notebook in my hand,” said Nisco. “I was always writing as a child, writing poetry, and my father always encouraged me to write a book. He was my biggest cheerleader.”

“I had to muster up the courage to say, ‘I’m going to do this’,” said Nisco, who writes under the pen name M.B. Gioffre, her maiden name and now middle name, in tribute to her father, who has since passed away.

She dabbled in a variety of genres, but as a teacher for more than two decades, Nisco set her direction on a children’s book.

“I’ve always had my heart in teaching and inspiring young people to be writers and readers. Why not write for them?” she said.

She found easy inspiration in her immediate surroundings — a home adorned with roses and the family’s beloved beagle, Daisy.

Her book, Adventures at Rosebud Cottage: Bringing Daisy Home, was published November 2025. Nisco describes it as a “gentle adventure” story but emphasizes its strong sense of purpose.

“It’s definitely a book with a purpose,” she said. “It’s not just cute adventure stories. Putting a spotlight on animal welfare [and adoption] is my main goal.”

Some of the book’s proceeds will go to charitable causes, including the Connecticut Humane Society and the Beagle Freedom Project — but readers will discover the book has even more “extras” that perhaps only a teacher would include. Nisco incorporated a vocabulary-building glossary, discussion questions, animal welfare resources and even her own recipes that relate to the story.

Bringing Daisy Home is available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and Wilton Library has a copy. Two more installments are already in the works, with more of Daisy’s adventures at the cottage. Nisco aims to finish the writing for those two books this fall.