By Davi Jacobs

It started with a stack of letters to Santa.

In December 2001, University of Maryland alumna Cindy O’Neill – who graduated in 1979 – was working as an advertiser at a New Jersey mall when she came across letters of children’s Christmas wishes, which were full of hope and free from tragedy. 

Only months after 9/11, that innocence was precious. “No one can take away your childhood,” she thought, and the idea for her book, “Mothballs In My Attic,” was born.

The book prompts readers with specific questions meant to be answered with a single word or short phrase, similar to “Mad Libs.” 

Prompts include questions such as “Grandma’s house always smelled like…” and “The store my friends and I would buy our candy or gum was….”

“I wanted people to connect to their inner child and this is just a fun way to do that without getting too deep,” O’Neill said. “Mothballs preserve clothing, so we’re saying it preserves your memories in your brain.” 

O’Neill observed that similar books on the market were a bit overwhelming in the blank pages they contained for recalling memories. 

“We just wanted one word that brought them right back to their childhood home,” she said.

After O’Neill and her sister collaborated on the questions, they pitched their project to illustrator Yvonne Vermillion, who instantly agreed to work with them. She later described how she designed the book’s nostalgic aesthetic and website to allude to the feeling of a dusty, treasure-filled attic.

“I thought it was wonderful,” Vermillion said. “I remember my grandmother not being able to remember things and they say if you exercise your mind and make it remember these things, it’ll help you.” 

O’Neill gathered testimonials and placed advertisements for her book in local catalogs and registries, but she found the most success through nursing homes, where people held discussion sessions about the book.

“It did morph into a dementia niche,” she said. “I actually attended a few [discussion sessions] and it just lit up people’s eyes. They went right back to their childhood, and we just had so much fun.” 

“Mothballs in my Attic” began to appear in book clubs, and for many readers, the book became a staple at holiday gatherings, family reunions and girls’ nights out.

Katie Darabos, O’Neill’s daughter and a researcher at the Rutgers Cancer Institute, sees the value of her mother’s book in her work with young adult cancer patients.

“There’s so much time when you’re getting treatment,” Darabos said. “It’s cool to reflect back. It brings joy at a time when that could be hard to come by.” 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, book sales halted, but O’Neill ran a buy-one-get-one-free sale and delivered it to the residents’ front porches in her town for the holidays. 

“It was a great connection for people to receive this when everybody was so closed off from everybody else,” she said. “I felt like I did something for my community to bring us together.” 

Twenty years later, O’Neill continues to transport people back in time.

“People that came in contact with it remember it. It’s just a web that goes from this person to the next person,” she said. “A lot of my feedback is ‘I need two more books.’”

Featured Image: Cindy O’Neill’s “Mothballs in my Attic” book cover. Photo courtesy of The Alzheimer’s Store.