‘The Tiny Star’: The Story Behind a Stone Harbor Local’s Popular Children’s Christmas Book
Art Ginolfi poses with his book on the beach.
On Sundays in the summer, you can find Art Ginolfi walking on the beach at sunrise from the end of Stone Harbor – where he and his wife Susan purchased a vacation home in 1995 – into Avalon, where at 50th Street he turns and looks up at the steeple of St. Brendan the Navigator and has a conversation with God.
Ginolfi, a 40-year veteran of the travel industry and author of the children’s book, “The Tiny Star,” affirms his goals by writing positive messages in the sand.
“I read a lot of inspirational books,” says Ginolfi, whose mother gave him a copy of Dale Carnegie’s book, “How to Win Friends & Influence People,” when he was 17 and working as a lifeguard in Ortley Beach, which is bordered by Lavallette and Seaside Heights.
“For years I’ve been seeing myself as a guy who is like Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, or Joel Osteen,” says Ginolfi, who wants to inspire kids – specifically ages of 2 to 7 – to know that God has a plan for them.
Ginolfi believes God’s plan for him revealed itself from 1-2:30am on Dec. 10, 1983. He awoke that night, picked up a pen and a legal pad, and wrote a story about a star named Starlet who is so tiny that no one notices her in the night sky, until she’s chosen to illuminate the manger in Bethlehem.
“Starlet’s wish, that she is seen by everyone, comes true when she stops thinking about herself and starts thinking about how she can help the newborn baby in the stable,” says Ginolfi, who doesn’t remember writing the story with illustrations in the middle of the night. He does recall Susan’s reaction the following morning.
“I just read this and it’s really good,” said Susan, “Did you write this?”
“Of course I did,” he said.
“You should get it published and copyrighted,” she said.
One year after penning “The Little Star,” Ginolfi revised the illustrations and sent it out to family and friends who mirrored Susan’s enthusiasm.
He also submitted his copyrighted work to publishers.
“I sent out all of these copies of the book and I got the typical rejection letters,” says Ginolfi. No matter how many publishers told him “No,” his faith kept him going.
Born in Jersey City, the family moved to Toms River when he was in the seventh grade. Ginolfi grew up Catholic but today does not follow any formal religion. He believes in God, in being a good person, and staying focused on his mission.
“I believe God chose me to tell the story of ‘The Tiny Star’ because I am persistent. I can accomplish a task. And I’ll get the job done,” says Ginolfi.
Four years after writing the “The Tiny Star,” serendipity stepped in.
On Oct. 18, 1988, he was on his first business trip to New York City, and across the street from his meeting were two major book publishers. He walked across the street, went up to the ninth floor to the children’s book division of one of the publishing houses, pitched his story, and walked away with his first book contract.
Ginolfi says the book had terrific sales, but four-years later the publisher’s imprint went bankrupt. Luckily, he was able to purchase the rights back. The only setback is that Ginolfi was back where he began.
But then, miraculously, in 1996 “The Tiny Star” was taken on by a second publisher.
At that time, Ginolfi had a significant encounter. After returning from BookExpo America, where he secured that new publisher, he was going for a run along the Capital Crescent Trail by his home in Bethesda, Md., when he met a distinguished man dressed all in black, carrying a bible. The two men struck up a conversation and Ginolfi told him about “The Tiny Star” and how he had gotten published without an agent.
“That’s when the man pointed up to heaven and said, ‘You have an agent!’” says Ginolfi. “The man smiled and his eyes gleamed. He said, ‘Who do you think opened all of those doors for you?’ He walked down the trail. When I looked back, he had disappeared. I still get goosebumps when I think about this encounter and wonder, was he just a holy man, or a holy messenger?”
Then in 2004, Ginolfi’s book “The Tiny Snowflake” was published with his second publisher. All seemed to be going well, but Ginolfi said there were changes in the publishing house’s management. He says he was selling 50 to 60 books an hour on national book-signing tours, and 30,000 copies were sold during the Christmas season. Eventually, though, Ginolfi says the new president of the publishing house told him the books had a good run but that sales had slowed. And they weren’t going to print any more.
Finally, after 10 years, Ginolfi got the rights back to “The Tiny Star.” He also secured the rights to “The Tiny Snowflake.”
And in 2018, he went back to the BookExpo. Within an hour, he found a new publisher, Skyhorse Publishing in New York City. Ginolfi says with Skyhorse, “The Tiny Star” and “The Tiny Snowflake” debuted as No. 1 and No. 2 on Amazon’s Best Seller List for Children’s Christian Bedtime Fiction.
Today, Ginolfi’s goal is to bring the story of “The Tiny Star” to a larger audience. His dream is to see the story made into a 30-minute Christmas special. And he hopes that a female superstar, the likes of Mariah Carey, Kelly Clarkson, or Taylor Swift would voice Starlet.
Ginolfi is confident that one day “The Tiny Star” will be animated.
“Dream, believe, persist and you will shine,” he says.
He’s also putting time into a project called “Stars,” which, if it comes to fruition, would be a full-length animated feature with symbolism of popular stories in the Bible. Ginolfi says several of Hollywood’s major animation studios have expressed interest.
In the meantime, he is spreading the word of “The Tiny Star,” which he says has 12 big messages, including: You were born to shine, be persistent and never give up, and don’t be discouraged.
And so, if you see Art Ginolfi on the beach – where he might be doing his exercises, surfing with his longboard, sunning himself alongside Susan, or hanging out with their adult children Caroline, Sarah and Dan, who all grew up spending summers in Stone Harbor, sharing their father’s enthusiasm for surfing – know that Ginolfi’s surroundings help to infuse his creativity.
“I fell in love with Seven Mile Island,” he says. “It’s beautiful, the seashore at its best.”