Between Magic & Memory: 20 stories & poems

by JJ Lissaris

199 pages, Paperback

Published November 9, 2025

About the author

John J. Lissaris (JJ) has been writing since childhood. His poem “A Book Is a Best Friend,” written in Mrs. Farran’s second-grade class, was his first critical success—and he hasn’t looked back since.

As an adult, he has written and directed two musicals for middle schoolers: Different Lives (2006) and Star Harbor (2008). He has also penned a young-adult novella, The Perfect Moment (2007), and a musical, Finally Time (2012), based on the novella.

More recently, he has written a middle-grade play, Notes (2018), and three middle-grade books (2021–2022) in a series by the same title. He also assembled a group of twenty-one 11- to 18-year-olds to create a studio recording of Back to Star Harbor (2023), based on the original 2008 musical.

Born and mostly raised in Brooklyn, New York, JJ taught middle school and high school for eleven years and is now a senior assessment specialist at a state university. He currently resides in New Jersey with his wife, two children, and adorably judgmental Boston terrier.