RICHARD PANCHYK knew he wanted to be a writer by the time he was seven years old. He sold his first "book," a four-page handwritten trivia booklet written on a folded piece of loose-leaf paper in runny blue ballpoint pen, to a third-grade classmate for a nickel. A native of Elmhurst, Queens, Richard attended Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, where a class on the fascinating history of New York ignited his interest in the area. He has published a total of thirty-four books, including nine titles on New York City and six on Long Island.
