New York English teacher and celebrated author Frank Nappi.

Many excellent teachers have earned accolades in fields outside of the classroom. One of these is Frank Nappi, a high school English teacher from New York who has earned national fame as an author.

Frank was born in Bay Shore, Suffolk County, New York, on Feb. 27, 1967. As a young boy, he attended Farmingdale High School in Farmingdale, New York. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from Hofstra University, a private university located in Hampstead, New York.

After he earned his degrees, Frank taught English and Creative Writing at Oceanside High School, a public school located in Oceanside, New York. His career as an educator there spanned 31 years.

Frank published his first novel, Echoes from the Infantry, in 2005. The tale, a story about a World War II veteran, earned national attention. Frank garnered a silver medal for outstanding fiction from the Military Writers Society of America for the effort. His second novel, The Legend of Mickey Tussler, a story about baseball, earned high reviews, too. A movie adaptation entitled A Mile in His Shoes was based on the story. He has also published Sophomore Campaign (2012) and the dark thriller Nobody Has to Know (2012), both of which have earned accolades.  He also wrote Welcome to the Show, published in 2016.

Probably the book that Frank wrote that is most intriguing for teachers, though, is I Became an Elementary School Outlaw, published in 2019. The tale is a delightful memoir of a little boy who becomes a teacher when he matures. The story depicts the angst of growing up and fitting in, and is told with humor and insight.

Today Frank lives on Long Island, New York. To read an interview with this amazing educator, see this link to a 2013 interview with Sandra Bornstein.