Try, Try Again: Briganti Perseveres To Publish Book

By Katie Harmon

In September 2022, our very own assistant principal Joe Briganti became a published author.

His children’s book, “Moral Demise,” tells the story of three best friends, a missing science teacher, and the evil CEO of a biotechnology firm. The character’s stories, that at first seem separate, collide to create an adventure-filled book that also teaches readers about DNA.

In Mr. Briganti’s own words, the book is “a quick read” and “a page turner.” He said it was inspired by the 1980s classic film “The Goonies,” which he said he kept with him “the whole time.”

Before coming to Branford High School in 2008, Mr. Briganti was a science teacher, and that’s when, in 2004, he wrote the first draft of the book. 

“I did a lot of reading of fiction rather than using the textbook,” he said, adding how his “out of the box teaching…really captivated the kids attention.”

“I couldn’t find a book that was short enough or interesting enough to teach about DNA,” he said. “So I just wrote one.” 

In the 70-page book, he is the villain “Mr. Briganti” which he said he added for the amusement of his students. In fact, the entire book was for his students.

Mr. Briganti had a mission to make learning fun.

He said, “I know that there are a lot of kids that hate reading and that was my hidden agenda, that if I wrote a story short enough, funny enough, they might say ‘hey reading isn’t actually that bad.’ ”

As a student, he had his own struggles to enjoy reading.

“My reading and writing in high school was really horrible,” he said. “I have my report cards here, and I will show kids who are struggling my English grades, which were not good.”

His journey from struggling in English class, to becoming a finalist in the “Tassy Walden Awards in the Young Adult/Teen Novel category,” and eventually getting his book published, is inspiring. 

“Being resilient and not giving up is just who I am, I just don’t give up, I just won’t,” he said. “If you really are passionate about what you’re doing I think just naturally you’re not going to give up.” 

The publishing process was another hill he had to climb. Briganti said, “I’ve been trying to publish it from ‘08 until 2020.”  He was rejected hundreds and hundreds of times, he said and “every rejection motivated me to go back and tweak.” He hasn’t let these setbacks stop him from writing another book.

Mr. Briganti wrote a sequel to “Moral Demise” last year.

Most recently, Mr. Briganti wrote a Christmas story, which he said is about a thousand words. He has already submitted this newest piece to a publisher. The story is about two best friends who, together, saved the world from having a Christmas without lights.

“Hopefully I’ll hear back in April,” he said. “To see if that one gets accepted.”

“Moral Demise” is published by Austin Macauley and is available wherever books are sold, including Amazon and local bookstores. The paperback version costs $7.95 and the kindle version $4.50.