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Local Authors Shine: Melody Maysonet and Kerry O’Malley Cerra Win Prestigious Florida Book Awards. {courtesy authors}

Kerry O’Malley Cerra of Coral Springs and Melody Maysonet of Coconut Creek both won Florida Book Awards.

When Melody Maysonet saw the word “Congratulations!” in the subject line of her email, she thought it was a scam, like she’d won a cruise or sweepstake.

Then she saw the words “Florida Book Award,” and suddenly she held her breath.

“To find out my book had won the gold medal… I almost tripped on my way down the stairs to tell my husband (Adam),” said the author.

Maysonet, of Coconut Creek, won the gold medal for her young adult novel, What We Wish For, and Coral Springs author Kerry O’Malley Cerra took home the silver medal for her middle-grade novel, Make a Little Wave, from the Florida Book Awards, which announced the winners at the start of February.

After receiving more than 190 entries across 11 categories, the juries made their final 2024 selections. The Florida Book Awards, established in 2006, is an annual awards program that recognizes, honors, and celebrates the literature by Florida authors and books about Florida published in the previous year. Authors must be Florida residents, except in the Florida nonfiction, cooking, and visual arts categories, where the subject matter must focus on Florida.

Cerra, wife of Coral Springs commissioner Shawn Cerra, held a launch party at the Coral Springs Northwest Regional Library in the fall for Make a Little Wave. Afterward, more than a hundred readers and fans were invited to a party back at the Cerras’ house.

“It’s comforting to be supported by the community I’ve lived in for over 30 years,” Cerra said.

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When the book came out, she also went on a mini tour last fall. Those stops included Plainville, MA; Boston, MA; Bethesda, MD; Washington, D.C.; Asheville, NC; and Mooresville, NC.

“Meeting kids from all over the East Coast and talking about sharks and writing was so, so fun,” Cerra said.

Make a Little Wave tells the shark tale of eighth-grader Savannah, who becomes an eco-warrior on behalf of sharks after she finds herself at odds with her human community.

“Sav becomes what I call an accidental activist when she suddenly learns about the horrific act of shark finning,” Cerra said. “She’s changed forever. And that’s often how people stumble into causes they come to care about. Most people don’t seek out a cause to support—it finds them. And they can’t turn away.

“In the book, Sav has all these big, complicated feelings and doesn’t know how to channel them. She ends up doing a lot of things wrong—and suffering consequences for her actions—before she learns to stand up and fight the right way.”

Cerra, who’s deaf, has a nonfiction picture book coming out in March of 2026 about eleven deaf men and how they helped America and NASA win the Space Race.

Maysonet’s gold-winning story, however, centers around a 15-year-old girl named Layla who lives in a homeless shelter with her alcoholic mother. Layla is hiding her circumstances and trying to pretend everything’s fine. Then, her mom goes into treatment, and Layla moves in with her wealthy aunt and uncle. She thinks all her dreams have come true but soon learns that getting everything you wish for doesn’t necessarily make you happy.

“That’s one of the things I hope readers will come away with—that happiness is an inside job,” Maysonet said. “Also, addiction is messy, and it’s normal to be frustrated with loved ones who can’t seem to get sober, no matter how much you try to help. Still, there’s always hope. I’ve seen alcoholics who I thought would never recover finally get sober, and the change in them is truly miraculous.”

Maysonet had the privilege of doing an author visit for the book club kids at Atlantic Technical High School in Coconut Creek. She talked about her high school experience, how awkward and anxious she was, and how Layla, the main character, was inspired by her own struggles and insecurities.

When she started writing What We Wish For, Maysonet had only a vague idea of what she wanted it to be—a sort of genie in the bottle story where the main character gets everything she wishes for only to find out that what truly makes her happy has nothing to do with money or clothes or how other people see her.

“That’s been the theme of my life, and it’s so gratifying that this book that’s based on my own experience with alcoholism and my own fears and longings has been recognized by the Florida Book Awards,” Maysonet said. “I am truly honored and grateful.”

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Author Profile

Faran Fagen

Faran Fagen, who teaches high school journalism, graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Journalism degree and from Florida Atlantic University with a degree in Education. He's worked at The Palm Beach Post, SunSentinel, and MLB.com. He lives in Coral Springs with his wife and two children. Oh, and his three dogs -- who all think that they're his favorite.