Everyone grows up in his or her own way. How you do it depends on so many things - your parents and the kind of people they were when you were growing up, where you were growing up, your friends, and the time when you were growing up. In an effort to let his children and grandchildren know something about his childhood, the author wrote this book about his early years in a small Illinois town. It was a time so different from today that it may seem like another world to young readers. It was a simpler time, perhaps a naive time, but a good time to grow up. Readers who did not live through the mid and late 1940s can see it through the eyes of a young boy. Those who did live during those times can take a step back in time, even if only for a short time."