Preschooled

Behind the toddler-proof gate of Santa Monica's exclusive Garden of Happiness, it's the grown-ups who are getting schooled.
When new preschool parent Justine discovers that the man who broke her heart back in grad school is a dad in her daughter's class, she tells herself she's immune to the superficial charms of the ex she calls "the crapwizard." But when his presence opens a time tunnel of potent memories from her life before motherhood, she must find a way to defuse her old attraction to him before it undermines her marriage.
Then there's Ruben, rookie stay-at-home dad and standup comic who quits his day job to pursue his TV-writing dream on his wife's condition that he take her place among the "power mommies" on the school committees.
And ruling the sand box with an iron fist is Margaret, whose ongoing divorce from her dentist-turned-New Age-surfer husband forces her to rely on her dubious people skills in order to keep the school that has become the cornerstone of her identity.
When the new school year kicks off with a flight-risk rabbit named Ozone, a school secretary in desperate need of a social filter, and some double-barreled committee recruiting tactics, it's not all juice and cookies for Justine, Ruben, and Margaret as they struggle to play nice.

Anna Lefler is a novelist, comedy writer, and author of The Chicktionary: From A-Line to Z-Snap, The Words Every Woman Should Know, which The Chicago Tribune called "a wry celebration of modern femininity." She was a staff writer on the Nickelodeon/NickMom TV show "Parental Discretion with Stefanie Wilder-Taylor," where she also served as an on-camera performer. Anna is a two-time faculty member of the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop and her humorous essays have appeared on Salon.com, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, and The Big Jewel. She has performed standup comedy in clubs around Los Angeles including the Hollywood Improv and the Comedy Store. Anna lives in Los Angeles with her two children, whom she regularly embarrasses.