New release! About Car Dogs

What if the most important journey of your life began with a simple drive… and two lovable dogs?
 
Meet Amanda Caminetti—a dreamer, a future filmmaker, and a teenager whose life is about to change in ways she never imagined. After one too many mishaps (including a microwave disaster!), Amanda’s parents give her an unusual assignment: take the family dogs, Bridget and Lucky, for daily drives and write about what she discovers along the way.
What starts as punishment becomes an
extraordinary adventure.
 
Along the road, Amanda befriends a remarkable 80-year-old woman who once worked for the Roosevelts at Meadow Croft, flew planes during World War II, uncovers environmental injustices, discovers her passion for filmmaking, and finds inspiration from some of history’s most influential women.
 
Filled with humor, heart, friendship, magical realism, and unforgettable canine
companions, Car Dogs is a touching coming-of-age story about finding your
voice, believing in yourself, and learning that wisdom can come from the most
unexpected places.
  • Two lovable dogs
  • A future filmmaker’s journey
  • World War II aviation history
  • Environmental activism
  • Magical realism
  • Humor, heart, and inspiration
Sometimes the road to your future begins with a simple ride in the car.

Get your summer reading in with my new book “Car Dogs.” It will boost your mood, inspire you and make you laugh out loud. Reviews appreciated.

Available on:
Buy here

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Linda Leuzzi is an award-winning journalist, editor and author of the recent novel “My Year With the Italian Girl” as well 8 non-fiction books for young adults, two of which garnered New York Public Library citations. Stories for the Long Island Advance, Suffolk County News, and the Fire Island & Great South Bay News have won 21 New York Press Association Awards including First Place mentions for In-Depth Reporting and Coverage of Local Government, Spot News, Coverage of the Arts, Spot News Photo, and Sports Feature. She’s won two Third Place Sharon Fullmer Awards for Community Leadership for team coverage of LGBTQ+ issues.

Her latest 2025 New York Press Association Awards included First Place Coverage of Local Government (shared) as well as a 2nd Place Best Personality Profile for her interview with Isabella Rossellini for the Fire Island and Great South Bay News.

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LAtest NEws

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Oh, those pooches! Get your summer reading in with my new book “Car Dogs.”

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24
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The Suffolk Music and Arts Festival presented by the Love Wins International Film Festival (@lovewinsfilms [...]

01
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Major improvements come to Greater Bellport Coalition

Congratulations to the @greaterbellportcoalition, and the legislators who fought for them, for the major improvements [...]

16
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A brilliant West Side Story production at the Gateway

You would want these actors on your side whether you were a Jet or a [...]

15
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Rob Cutrone – Positivity and Philanthropy Push CoHo to New Ventures

Rob Cutrone, owner of CoHo and the new coffee café at the Bayport/Blue Point Library, [...]

22
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Isabella Rossellini Storefront

Isabella Rossellini has established another avenue of creativity with her new wool lab on Bellport’s [...]

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The Full Monty

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award-winning author & journalist

21 NY press Association Awards

  • 1ST PLACE COVERAGE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT
  • 1ST PLACE SPOT NEWS PHOTO
  • 1ST PLACE SPORTS FEATURE
  • 1ST PLACE IN-DEPTH REPORTING
  • 1ST PLACE COVERAGE OF THE ARTS 1ST PLACE SPOT NEWS
  • 1ST PLACE HEADLINE WRITING

Awards

  • Brookhaven Town’s Office of Women Services for her Outstanding Service to the Community in Communications/Media
  • Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts as well as Patchogue Village for community journalism and accolades also from the Greater Patchogue Historical Society
  • Of Colors Woman of Diversity Award during Black History Month
  • Long Island Women’s Conference for Positive Community Impact Media Award
  • Outstanding Advocate for Science and Technology Environmental Writing Award from the Science Museum of Long Island
  • Rollstone Foundation Gala honoree with husband Vincent, with 250 attendees, at the Timber Point Country Club in Great River, which raises funds for overseas adoptions of special needs children for their support and community involvement

Recognition

In 2020, Linda Leuzzi received a prestigious Third Place New York Press Association Sharon Fullmer Community Leadership Award for coverage of LGBTQ issues (shared). Linda has been honored to receive several community and industry recognitions, including one from Patchogue Village for her community journalism efforts, the All About Ball event at the Boys & Girls Club of the Bellport Area for her support of its founder, and as a Woman of Diversity during Patchogue ArtSpace’s Of Colors Black History Month.

In 2021, Linda was honored with a 2nd Place Front Page Award for two of her stories, part of a team effort.

Linda also received a Science Museum of Long Island’s Outstanding Advocate for Science and Technology for Environmental Writing Award and accolades from the Greater Patchogue Historical Society for local history stories.

Linda Leuzzi was honored by Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts in 2019 for her many stories on the celebrities who perform as well as the theatre. In the photo with Linda are the other honorees, Long Island Advance publisher Terry Tuthill and BrickHouse Brewery partners Jim McPeak, George Hoag and Tom Keegan. Photo by Walter Petrule.

Linda was also honored by NYS Senator Monica Martinez with a Media Award at the Long Island Women’s Conference for her contributions and positive community impact. Here’s Linda with Senator Martinez.

Current Projects

As previous editor of the Long Island Advance, Linda still reports regularly for LIA as well as the Suffolk County News, the Tide of the Moriches and recently the Fire Island and Great South Bay News. She authored the 20th anniversary book “Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts: 20 Luminous Years of Entertainment Progress.” Linda is a Sayville Rotarian, the recipient of a Paul Harris Award highlighting Sayville Rotarian events, and has hosted seven Rotary exchange students with her husband, Vincent. She an ardent lover of British movies and series, foreign films, Turner Classic Movies, PBS, Broadway & Gateway musicals and Patchogue Theatre concerts, as well as European travel to Paris, London, Prague, Medjugorje and other gorgeous places. Linda’s ebullient enthusiasm for her work, her novel writing process, and the communities she covers is discussed in the promotion of her book, “My Year With the Italian Girl” in the interview with Isabella Rossellini. Linda has a St. John’s University journalism degree and is always thinking of stories walking with her rescue dog Tina.

Linda’s new book, “My Year With the Italian Girl,” is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Buy here.

Continued Projects

As former editor of the Long Island Advance, Tide of the Moriches, Suffolk County News and Islip Bulletin, Linda Leuzzi continues her work as regular contributor and occasional editor. She has mentored, hosted and stayed in touch with several Rotary foreign exchange students as well as young women starting out in the news business.

Linda Leuzzi authored the anniversary edition book, “Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts: 20 Luminous Years of Entertainment Progress,” for Patchogue Theatre.

You can purchase “Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts: 20 Luminous Years of Entertainment Progress” for $30 at PTPA’s box office or online here. All proceeds go to PTPA.

Linda was recently featured on a one-hour Community Interview Zoom meeting the Sayville Library conducted highlighting local residents who have made positive contributions. Linda was featured with Liz Finnegan, as former editors of the Suffolk County News and were asked about the stories they covered that had the most impact. They were interviewed by James Bertsch and Jonathan Pryor

Linda was recently interviewed by film star Isabella Rossellini at the Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society, a standing-room-only event, about her new book, “My Year With the Italian Girl.”

Rotary District 7255 District Governor Sonia Saleh asked Linda to give a talk about her book, “My Year With the Italian Girl,” at the recent Woodloch Resort district conference in Hawley, Pa. Linda’s book was inspired by a Rotary Youth Exchange student she mentored, and she spoke about her experiences with the young woman as well as with other students hosted. Linda discussed the plot of her fiction book, which focuses on small town life, multiculturism, Black history, weekly newspaper work and environmental issues. She received a Paul Harris Fellow Award.

Linda Leuzzi also served on the board of the Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society.

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BOOKS

Linda Leuzzi has authored 8 YA non-fiction books and here is her recent fiction book for adults:

“My Year With the Italian Girl,” available on Amazon.

To the Young Environmentalist was chosen as a Talking Book

Life Connections: Pioneers in Ecology received a New York Public Library citation

A Matter of Style: Women in the Fashion Industry received a New York Public Library citation

Celebrity Interviews

Her many celebrity interviews have included Isabella Rossellini, Chazz Palminteri, Bernadette Peters, Joe Piscopo, Sally Struthers, Sara Jean Ford, Melissa Errico, Lou Diamond Phillips, Carolina Herrera, Tony Danza, choreographer Randy Skinner along with many Gateway actors, oceanographer Sylvia Earle, Andrea McArdle, Vince Giordano, Keith Lockhart, Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s Albert Mazibuko Branford Marsalas and Joanie Madden of Cherish the Ladies as well as Nobel Prize and MacArthur Award scientists Patricia Wright and several astronauts.

Linda Leuzzi Interview with Isabella rossellini

Video courtesy of, Joseph Varsalona. Event hosted by  Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society.