1 comments about Scuffletown: Adventures of a Boy Growing up In the Rural South.

1. A.T. Hope grew up in another world where there were no video games or cable television, no satellites or ICBMs. In fact, his world had not any television, color or black and white.
   Scuffletown is the story of real life in this other world, a world before Sputnikk and men on the moon, before Toyotas and Hondas, Suzukis and Yamahas. This is the story of a young man who grew up with his family with no air-conditioning and the only early warning given for hurricanes was a neighbor with a radio and a voice strong enough to holler out the news just hours before the storm hit.
   Hope doesn't try to compare his world to ours, he just tells it as it was -- and that was pretty amazing.

No comments about The Adventures of Childhood.

1 comments about The Way We Were.

1. The Way We Were: Growing Up in a Small Oregon Town Life as it was in the 40's &50's is the true-life memoir of author Charles Dishno, and his adolescence in the small town of Bly, Oregon. Peppered cover to cover with engaging anecdotes of small-town life a half-century ago, The Way We Were vividly brings memories alive, from fond remembrances of a sixteen-year-old friend who died tragically in an auto accident to the thrill of watching cowboy and Indian movies at matinee showings to the shocking day the fire house burned down and much more. A highly readable account of a bygone but not forgotten era.

No comments about The Ed Letters: Memories of a New England Boyhood.

1 comments about Castle Park.

1. Sam Hair's memoir is an engrossing, almost cinematic account of his well-lived life. Beautifully written, the story is told through vignettes, strung together through one to two page reminiscences. His story captures an era that has now passed, told vibrantly and honestly. Well worth reading and hard to put down.

No comments about The Hawthorne Scent.

3 comments about Newton Avenue.

1. Submitted by the author on behalf of a reader. "...The reason for my e-mail is to express my gratitude to you for your writings in your newest publication: Newton Ave. I have laughed and cried, remembered things I thought I had forgotten and, in general, marveled at how you so adeptly hit the nail on the head...so to speak...in your descriptions of this marvelous little town and its wonderful people. I'm not quite finished with these emotionally deep and simultaneously uplifting articles, but I wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed your work in case I get back to Clinton and am too busy to remember. See, your venture has already made a change in my life..." --N.A. from Clinton, MS



2. I am amazed how relate-able these stories/essays are; no matter where you're from, growing up in this simple, yet magical time. The author weaves many wonderful yarns of memories and feelings brought together with poignant messages of reflective enlightenment and hope. I have read Rusty's other novels which are also captivating, but this is a more personal account that's truthfully uplifting! A well-recommended read indeed!



3. I absolutely loved this book. It's a must read for anyone from the 60's/70's as Rusty takes us on a trip down memory lane with references to great music and cutlure. It's also a journey into the pain of his life, as he celebrates it, at the same time.

No comments about My Story: Going Home Again.

1 comments about Starting from Glasgow.

1. My brother gave me this book because, like Rosemary Trollope, I had attended the Glasgow School of Art, lived in Glasgow and loved the city. Her love of Glasgow and it's people is apparent throughout these autobiographical vignettes. Glasgow, like most cities, is not a place you instantly fall in love with. You have to live there and after a while you grow to love this city and it's people. I lived there many years after she did and though I could not relate to her upper class existence, I enjoyed her stories nonetheless. It's a way of life that no longer exists and she makes no apologies for it; why should she? To think at a time when her family had indoor plumbing and telephones, my family were living in houses with earthen floors and no indoor plumbing. Indeed my Mother's first job as a young girl of 14 was to work as maidservant in these well to do houses. Though she is definately from the other side of the tracks, she tells her story with humour and understanding. Glasgow is a great place to start and reading this book I wanted to go back and start all over again.

3 comments about A Forever Family.

1. As an adoptions professional I am continually searching for books that reflect the experience of children who are adopted after they have been removed from birth parents. Many of these children are between the ages of six and ten when adopted. Kids I have shared this book with have not wanted to give it back. It is a very useful tool in helping children understand adoption. Jennifer's journey from instability to having a forever family is not sugar coated but presents what is true for the majority of adopted children. I am very disappointed that it is out of print. I think this is a great loss for our kids.



2. This story is perfect for children who were adopted, particularly those adopted at an older age. The simple text is accompanied by photographs of the co-author, Jenny Jordan-Wong, who was adopted in the early 1990s at the age of eight.

   Her life with her Mom and Dad, an inter-racial couple, is normal and loving in every way. Jenny plays and runs and reads like other kids. (She especially likes Nany Drew.) She takes piano lessons and plays Hula Hoop.

   But she is different from other friends who want to know what it was like to be adopted. She explains that her biological parents had a lot of problems and could not take care of her. So when she was three, she moved to a foster family, a temporary family who "take care of you until you are adopted." Of course, Jenny knows that not everyone gets adopted.

   Jenny has pictures of her second foster Mom and Dad, who took her in when she was 6. She still visits them, as she does the social workers who helped find her parents.

   "It was scary meeting my new mom and dad," she writes. But after visiting on several weekends with her family, "We knew we wanted to be a family. They wanted to adopt me and I wanted to live with them. We would become a forever family."

   The story also includes photos of the court session which made the adoption final and of Jenny's extended family--aunts, uncles, cousins, and her friends.

   This book helps kids realize that others have been through the same thing, that new things take some getting used to, and that questions are okay. Alyssa A. Lappen




3. There is such a need for books that are applicable to families that adopt children beyond infancy. It is a shame that this is out of print. I was able to find it at the library, though.