Childhood Memoir

From the ghetto paved and unpaved streets of Indianapolis, Indiana, this book begins telling the story of one fat kid's rise from the projects, to his fall serving over seven years in as many prisons, and how he was able to come out a prison scholar. That led to him to writing 18 phenomenal books about redemption and attending Georgia State University, graduating number one in his undergraduate class. He earned a 4.13 GPA and went on to grad school, where he excelled, graduating at top of his class, before becoming a very popular African-American Studies professor at Georgia State University.

"We live so far in the backwoods, we have to pump sunshine through hollow logs," young Susanette's daddy says, when asked where the Howell family lives. Their cracker house, which has never been slapped by a loaded paintbrush, sits on a small tobacco farm near the Suwannee River in North Florida, 18 miles from the small town of Live Oak - a town that was, at the turn of the 19th century, the fifth largest town in Florida and the largest inland city in the state.

These are the exotic, funny and sometimes bittersweet family stories and photos of an overseas childhood told by the daughter of a State Department diplomat about her family's travels and experiences living overseas from 1957 to 1972. She and her six brothers spent their childhoods in South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Ethiopia. Through her stories, the listener can begin to appreciate the adaptability of children to other cultures and the fortitude and courage of parents trying to raise their children to be good citizens of the world as well as good Americans.

These personal essays have been called poignant, humorous, and mercifully short. Life’s adventures as seen through the eyes of a child and grownup. They have won contests, been published in books and newspapers, and performed at Jonathon Timpanelli's famous Open Mics at Shakespeare Bookstore in New York City.

When Gail Gallant was five months old, she died. A year later, she was reborn. Or so her mother said. The crash occurred on a July night in 1955. The truck hit the Gallant family's car head-on; a few weeks later, newborn baby Gail died from her injuries. Mad with grief, her mother prayed feverishly for Gail's return, convinced that God would bring her child back to her. And when she gave birth within a year to a baby girl who looked identical to her lost child, she believed her prayers had been answered. She named that newborn baby Gail.

To the young people of today, the 1960s seems like another age. But for those who grew up in this decade, school life, "mod" fashions and sixties pop music are still fresh in their minds. From James Bond to Sindy dolls and playing hopscotch in the street, life was very different to how it is now. After the tough and frugal years of the fifties, the sixties was a boom period, a time of changed attitudes and improved lifestyles. With chapters on home and school life, games and hobbies, music and fashion, this delightful compendium of memories will appeal to all who grew up in this lively era.

Until he was 17, Brett Preiss lived in the dusty outback of Australia, where he was one of four siblings in a dysfunctional family. He learned how to survive under the most bizarre and extraordinary circumstances. In this book, he shares the trials and tribulations of his youth through anecdotes that will leave you in tears of joy or sorrow. Travel back to the ’60s and ’70s and watch Brett transform from a sperm to adolescence.

A small and effeminate boy bullied for years while growing up in an alcoholic family in suburban Cleveland Gil finds refuge in the equestrian world. A coach instills in him the dream of going to the Olympics and becomes his mentor, his guide and his predator. Gil survives rape, betrayals, setbacks, and the loss of family and friends all while on a quest to fulfill his dream. This book is not only about surviving; it's about the resilience of the human spirit and the pursuit of dreams against all odds.

Uprooting ourselves and putting down roots elsewhere has become second nature. Americans are among the most mobile people on the planet, moving house an average of nine times in adulthood. Mobile Home explores one family's extreme and often international version of this common experience. Inspired by Megan Harlan's globe-wandering childhood, Mobile Home maps the emotional structures and metaphysical geographies of home.

Here's a woman with an eye for babies! Ann Tudor tells stories about babies and toddlers, whether grandchildren or met-by-chance little ones out in the world, along with a few memories from her own childhood. Always sensitive to the child's point of view, these stories are sometimes amusing, sometimes heartbreaking, but always intriguing.

To Fred Archer, born in the village of Ashton-under-Hill in 1915 and growing up in the 1920s, nothing seemed to change except the seasons. This was the age of paraffin lamps, earth closets, and the last train from Evesham at 7 o’clock in the evening. The village was a self-sufficient community with its own hierarchy, strong Church and Chapel, fierce politics and home-made entertainment.

Reeves gives us her authentic account of growing up around the Montana town of Jardine which, today, is a virtual ghost town. Her stories are sometimes funny, as when she tells about a runt pig miraculously waxing fat after eating the crankcase oil from of a Model T Ford. Sometimes they're shocking, like "the worst day" in her life when her brother blew off his hand hammering a dynamite cap. Another brother almost died from eating carbide powder cookies he made. This kid had an unusual childhood, growing up by a dying silver mining town bordering Yellowstone Park.

Enid Elliot Linder was the daughter of a butler and a lady’s maid in service in some of England’s grandest country houses. Evoking the lost world of a childhood ‘below stairs’, Linder’s touching memoir describes how her life changed as Britain headed towards war. After the family moved to a Marylebone tenement, her father sought work in London restaurants whilst battling personal demons. Meanwhile Linder’s aunt was nanny to a high-ranking member of the British Union of Fascists as they grew in influence.

Whether she’s taking a face plant in a second-grade war, lying her way into pet ownership, setting the fondue kit on fire or taking the Fifth after an epic food fight, Confessions of a Helmet-Free Childhood chronicles Cinnia Curran Finfer finding her way through childhood by trial and error - heavy on the error. She wasn’t trying to be funny; it just keeps turning out that way. Born the second of four girls in New York City, Cinnia’s childhood played out in five different grade schools and three different high schools in New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Illinois.

This audiobook reveals the main facts about the magical childhood and teenage years of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, the youngest son of a humble farmer, born in a remote Tibetan village, who became the political and spiritual leader of his homeland when he was only a kid. Its surprising content sheds light on the main facts and events that shaped his amazing early life, including: the Tibetan prophecy that announced his reincarnation; the magic lake that described the place where he was born; how the high lamas found him in a small farming village when he was two; and more!

My Warped Italian Catholic Childhood is a comedic throwback to the '50s era. Little Rosemarie is a misplaced ward of the times. Her attempt to adapt to the traditions of her culture, coupled with the dogma of the Catholic church, is overwhelming. Because the tale is narrated through the eyes of an innocent child; her recollections are even funnier and engaging. Little Rosemarie trudges through her daily life questioning her puzzling existence. Guilt, sin, the devil, the lack of sex education, and the unmerciful instruction of The Sisters Of Mercy befuddle the sprite.

In this vivid memoir, Neidhardt explores her childhood in wider familial and social contexts. Drawing upon a trove of family letters and other archival material, she follows her parents’ journey from privilege to food stamps—from their formative youths, to their embrace of pioneer homemaking and rural poverty, to their sudden and wrenching return to conventional society—and explores the back-to-the-land movement of the 1970s as it was, and as she lived it.

Upon returning home from golf on a rare afternoon free of responsibilities, Dr. Beverly Joyce, a busy and beloved OB-GYN, listened to a phone message that would shake her identity and send her on a life-changing journey of self-discovery. That call would instantly help free her from the hidden doubt, guilt, and shame that had plagued her throughout her life.

How can I possibly be 53 years old when I still feel like that wisp of a seven-year-old, bursting with energy, racing from the '60s to the '70s? How can it be the 21st century when images of school milk, beetle drives, chopper bikes, and flared trousers are still so vivid in my head? A gentler age has been and gone, but as long as we groovy glamsters are still around, it lives on - at least in our hearts.... A memoir - 42 delightful tales of days gone by.

Our class went to the school library for a research project. As I was looking for a book, a note that was folded up like a football flew over the top of a six-foot-high bookshelf and landed at my feet. It was a request for my friend Cindy and me to go on a double date with Randy and his best friend, Tim. The following day, a five-pound bag of sour balls mysteriously appeared in my locker, along with another note requesting a date.