5 comments about 44: Dublin Made Me.

1. When I bought 44: Dublin Made Me, it was primarily because my mother had been born on the same street, at No. 77, a generation before, in 1917. All I knew of the place was the stories she had told me of her childhood.
   
   As you might guess, I ended up loving the book for itself, and enjoying Sheridan's voice (I buy his other books as I find them). I fell madly in love with his entire family. However, my original purpose was satisfied anyway - Sheridan has painted a wonderful portrait of a place and a culture, which was what I'd been seeking all along.



2. Peter Sheridan gives a brave and honest account of his formative years growing up in a working class Dublin family, reminiscent of Roddy Doyle's "Paddy Clark: Ha Ha Ha." It is a deeply felt book, full of the frustrations and joys of everyday family life. His parents, in particular, are beautifully renderred. At times, I found the choppiness of Sheridan's style a little jarring, and the final chapters seemed a little rushed, but on balance, I definitely enjoyed the book, and do not hesitate to recommend it.



3. Happiness is in the eye of the individual..to me this was a tragic family life...a mother overburdened with a houseful of children and a self centered husband. All the sader for me to review since I'd read 47 Roses first and knew the father to be less than honest with family.



4. The story is about Peter growing up with his family in North Dublin and is set in the 1960's. The tightly knit family relations with his own family and those of his extended family of lodgers, which his parents took in to supplement his father's income, forms the backdrop to his story at 44 Seville Place.
   The pace of the book has the rhythm of the sixties. The short sentences beat out the rhythm of the sixties and keeps the tempo up-beat throughout the whole of the book. For those who have experienced Dublin in the sixties this book will take you back to that place and that time.
   The metaphorical pieces were very touching and masterfully executed. One example of this technique was when Peter tries to get to grips with his emotions concerning the possible loss of his brother Frankie before Frankie goes into surgery. A joy to read.
   Da is the Sun and all the minor planets revolve around him. Peter takes to his role as Mercury the messenger with great relish. There is a strong bond between father and son.
   I feel this story should not be compared to Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes. A one generation step into the future in Ireland can make a very big difference in how life is experienced.
   It was a very enjoyable read whereby the need to laugh out loud in places could not be silenced. However there were places in the book where the need to cry out loud could also not be silenced.



5. As if drawn by a gravitational pull, Irish yarns seem to center on the relationship of children with their mothers. In a break from this natural order, Peter Sheridan's memoir, 44 Dublin Made Me turns to the bond of a boy with his father for its compelling tale.

   Sheridan writes about his childhood with grace and ease. Readers are catapulted into his large Irish family in 1959 from the first sentence onward.

   Peter Sheridan is a good Irish boy who enjoys school and loves the hectic life Dublin offers. His best friend, Andy, hates school but loves traipsing around the city in search of fortune.

   The two boys influence each other in both good and bad ways - Andy gets involved with the church after a stint in reform school, and Peter learns to stand up for himself. In the end though, Andy remains the rogue and Peter the goody-two-shoes.

   A steady presence throughout the book is Peter's Da. The man has his own outhouse in the garage, preaches to his family like they are his disciples and relies on his wins at the horse races as a major means of income.

   Peter is his Da's helper and is ordered to do just about every imaginable task - from climbing up an ariel on the roof to fix the TV's reception to digging holes in the garage to fix water pressure.

   When Peter's brother, Frankie, falls ill, their Da finds himself unable to cope. Peter tries to fill in for his father and be someone for his mother to rely on. After his father regains his strength, he and Peter find their friendship stronger.

   Peter also runs errands all over the city and helps out with the tenants his parents have taken in.

   One of these boarders, Mossie, plays a crucial role in Peter's life. Mossie robs Peter of his innocence, terrifies and scars him so deeply that Peter withdraws inwardly. Unable to find comfort, Peter then seeks solace at the hands of the church.

   Illness and deaths make Peter grow up quickly and 44 Dublin Made Me documents his maturation. Andy gets a girl "in trouble" and quickly marries to take responsibility for the situation. As his world changes, Peter adapts.

   Sheridan's strength is that he writes his story, which could be sad, as hopeful and happy. Rather than just have stories from his childhood strung together as some memoirs do, 44 Dublin Made Me creates a touching story.

5 comments about The Blessing: A Memoir.

1. Gregory Orr's The Blessing is a moving and powerfully written memoir about his experiences specifically around death and shame and how his 1960s family dealt with tragedy. The title is misleading. Poetry is the blessing, but it isn't introduced until near the end and survival through poetry really isn't what this book is about in this reader's opinion.
   
   As a young boy, Orr accidentally shot and killed his younger brother and struggled with guilt through his remaining teen years. His father, a narcissistic and amphetamine-addicted small-town doctor, doesn't help matters by his own selfish adventures and escapes. And his mother, though aloof and distant, is his only hope for parental attachment. But she, too, dies tragically before Orr reaches adulthood. Then, in yet another ironic and tragic turn of events, Orr finds himself barely escaping death as he participates in civil rights activism in the Deep South. Most effective is Orr's use of language to capture internal and emotional conflict.



2. This book started out very strong--we emotion and written word. But going toward the mid point of part 4 it started to unravel. I really thought by the way the book started I would continue to be moved..but I was very disappointed by the book. I found myself forcing my way through so I could finish it; it was hard to finish it because it just wasn't nearly as good. I will try to read some of the author's poetry and maybe that will bring back to a good place about the author--but I just don't know. :(



3. This book is shocking in its stark retelling of an emotionally brutal childhood. I was drawn in instantly. I found myself holding my breath and staring into the room at the conclusion of a page. I was stunned. The moments of the story have lingered with me. My mind poured over the events. Later even after I had moved on to other thoughts, the emotions lingered under my thoughts, so that I would often pause in the middle of doing tasks. The writer seems to be seeking peace through resurrection and forgiveness.



4. This book is shocking in its stark retelling of an emotionally brutal childhood. I was drawn in instantly. I found myself holding my breath and staring into the room at the conclusion of a page. I was stunned. The moments of the story have lingered with me. My mind poured over the events. Later even after I had moved on to other thoughts, the emotions lingered under my thoughts, so that I would often pause in the middle of doing tasks. The writer seems to be seeking peace through resurrection and forgiveness.



5. Orr's book is an amazing chronicle of his early years, and an essential window into how art - in this case poetry - can play an important role in survival and transformation. The writing is clear and forceful. Highly recommended for anyone interested in memoir.

2 comments about Lives of Mothers & Daughters: Growing Up with Alice Munro.

1. "Tell all the Truth but tell it slant." It's significant that Sheila Munro chose to open her memoir with this poem by Emily Dickinson, because this is exactly what she offers us--a distinctively honest and unique perspective on the great short story writer, Alice Munro. An exhaustive official biography this is not, nor does it supersede Alice Munro's own largely autobiographical stories as a way to connect with her magical literary sensibility. However, it does give us fascinating insights into what it is like to be intimate with the famous writer as a daughter and friend. Sheila Munro is a fine writer in her own right and she takes risks in style and organization--I happened to enjoy this and found it made for an enjoyable, thought-provoking read. The family photographs alone are worth the price, but it was equally inspiring to learn about Alice Munro's human side: her bouts with writer's block, her struggle with the "double life" of motherhood and writing, her charming reticence about her many awards. As an aspiring writer myself, I realized all women writers are daughters of Alice Munro in a way. We work in her shadow, but like Sheila Munro, we can also use her example to create valuable works of our own. A must for Alice Munro fans and aspiring writers.



2. Sheila Munro brings to this work the same exquisite insight and compassion that marks her mother's novelistic treatment of character. It would have been no small burden as a writer to have lived in her mother's shadow and Sheila Munro explores this with honesty and good humour and without self-pity. In tackling this theme in her first major work, however, she has set herself up for further comparison with the incomparable Alice. I bought this book seeking, somewhat voyeuristically, after Alice Munro, and skipped over the passages in which Sheila focuses on her own life and loves. The book is , essentially, about Sheila's experience of living with an artistic and lauded mother, and because of this focus, she is able to neatly sidestep any potential breaches of Alice Munro's privacy. (But of course, the hope of such breaches underpinned my purchase so I was a little disappointed!) It is, nevertheless, a mature and thoughtful treatment of this theme. The quality of the writing is uneven and the overall structure lacking enough coherence for my taste but there are moments of startling human insight that bode well for Sheila's future writing endeavours - as long as she can break away from explicit depictions of her own history. A pseudonym might also help.

5 comments about Me May Mary.

1. Mary's journey is truly extraordinary! I couldn't put the book down. She is an amazing human being to have overcome such adversity! Great read!



2. My career was as the Director of a rape treatment center and child protection team. Having read Mary's book, I assure you that it is a compelling read, hauntingly told without hysteria or histrionics. In an almost eerily pragmatic tone, Mary tells her story of a seriously deprived childhood in which she quickly adapted and accepted the status quo. It is a story with which many of us can identify because of the slow, insidious, and steady impact of growing up in families that not only cannot provide the basic necessities of life such as food and shelter, but do not provide safety, security, or emotional and psychological support. As children we are great at taking responsibility for the family. Mary's story is a plain truth story of survival and determination. I was quite moved and I've heard it all.



3. Could not put the book down. What a quality written autobiography that reads more like a fiction. Entertaining, motivational and educational. No "poor me" in this one - just the facts told in a straightforward manner. As a professional who has worked in the field of Behavioral and Mental Health, I can highly recommend this book to adults AND teens. After reading what Mary experienced as a child and what she overcame to become an educated, successful and caring adult you too will understand that it IS possible!



4. This insightful and touching memoir - Catcher in the Rye meets Horatio Alger - makes you wonder how a young woman exposed to such a difficult and deprived childhood can graduate from high school, not to mention earning a PhD from Harvard and becoming a leader in her profession. Even with elaborate support systems in place, most of us accomplish much less. Mary Kilgour's story is just an incredible eye-opener, told with such self-deprecating humor and honesty that you'll find yourself laughing and crying - and happy to learn that Ms Kilgour is now working to help children who are growing up facing some of the same issues she did!



5. I loved this book. Like most of the books I love, it offers a glimpse into a reality so different from my own. BTW, I can't stand depressing books...although Mary had a tough childhood, her book never left me feeling depressed.
   
   I let a woman at my work read it after me and she loved it too!

5 comments about Facing The Lion: Memoirs of a Young Girl in Nazi Europe.

1. I deducted one star because she uses Roman Catholic religious terminology that I wasn't familiar with. That is to say, they failed to provide a glossary.
   
   Her book is more lengthy than her husband's autobiography of surviving the Holocaust (Max Liebster, a Jewish Jehovah's Witness)
   
   I could feel her loneliness and also her strength and determination to win the race for life because Jehovah kept strengthening her at the right moments to that she never felt alone!
   
   Unlike some Witnesses who survived the Holocaust, I'm pretty sure that Simone and her husband did not succomb to Satans' lies of materialism, immorality, idolatry, and apostasy! (At least, I would hope so around here.) All the anointed die faithful and loyal when under severe persecution. It is only when they believe Satans' lies (like Annania and Saphira) that they fail. Remember your Achilles' heel!
   
   I surmise that a Jew/Israeli is more likely to become a Witness than they are to become Mormon. Isn't that funny?



2. What a wonderful true story to inspire courage and the ability to stand up for oneself. A true treasure to be read and reread.



3. This is a powerful, inspiring story of how even a child can have tremendous courage in the face of overwhelming oppression. My 10-year old daughter and I shared it together.



4. This book is a first hand account of a young girl who had what it took to survive her horrible experience under the Nazi's. What she "had" was her religion. It is amazing to me that the large amount of Jehovah's Witnesses came through those war years able to cope with life after the war. So many others (in the camps) had no means of doing so. What J.W.'s have is nothing short of a miracle, as I have seen for myself. My 18 yr. old son and I met Simone and her husband at their home in France this past winter. The first thing Max did was to show us the number tattooed on his arm.Then he said to my son, "young man, I watched a 1000 people being put to death every day". Yet, here he stood, just out of the hospital the day before, still bright and full of life and love for his faith, at over 90 yrs. old. Next on my list is his book which I hear is just as inspiring as his wife's.



5. 
   
   This young girl suffered so much at the hands of the French, who sided with the Nazies.
   She was French and they took her away from her parents and put her in a terrible reform type school.
   This book enlightened me as to how horrific that these Jehovahs Witnesses were treated and only because of their deep religious convictions.
   It brought many tears to my eyes at how the innocent ones suffered.

5 comments about Appalachian Mountain Girl.

1. I couldn't put this book down. Very well written personal stories and vignettes. The author's descriptive style made the book very visual as well as emotive. -- Monica Steele, Jeffry's wife.



2. These memories of growing up the 1930's in a Letcher County Kentucky coal mining community are inspiring, especially as they show how rich the author's family was in love and support while living in poverty. The author's respect for the beauty of the area and its people is evident, and she brings members of the community to life, including the plow man, the mid-wife, and the country preacher. To survive, the family eventually moved to the small New York town where an aunt lived, and where the author met and married a local businessman just before her eighteenth birthday. Her vivid description of her first visit back "home" as a sophisticated married woman is bittersweet and hilarious, and that scene alone is worth the price of the book.



3. Once I began reading, I couldn't put the book down. The author transports you to Kentucky in the Appalachian Mountains back in the 1930's. I loved how descriptive the writing was. I plan to get a copy of the book for many of my friends.

   I went to school in Wyoming, New York (1968-1981) where Rhoda Warren lived as an adult and I knew her name, but I had no idea of her abilities or her personal story. I am so proud of her. She really has a talent for writing.




4. This is a book that I couldn't put down, but hated the thought of coming to the end of it . It is about a close society of people; a people that in spite of the adversity that they faced in depression era Appalachia, were able to conquer the demons of the company owned mining towns and live lives filled with dignity and compassion. The sensitivity of the descriptive prose brought me into the lives of these noble, heroic people. I found myself wanting to reread so many of the chapters, and I did. I recommend this book to people of all ages and circumstances. It is a beautiful introduction to an important and sometimes sad part of American Culture.



5. "Appalachian Mountain Girl" flows with the gentleness and innocence of a happy childhood amidst mountain hardships. So nice to read contemporary memories of Southeastern Kentucky in the 1930's before "progress" crept in to change the landscape forever. This book lends a romance even to the coal mines which provided her family of 13 children with food and shelter. Thanks to Ms. Warren for sharing her life with us.

5 comments about The Road to Nab End: A Lancashire Childhood.

1. Having been born in Lancashire in 1938 I loved this book. It tells the story of the lives lived by people of my parents' and grandparents' generation prior to the establishment of labour laws and social welfare programs, during depressions and loss of jobs. It was grim but somehow they managed to maintain a sense of pride and the value of community. I look forward to reading "Beyond Nab's End".



2. One thing that poverty didn't diminish is Woodruff's powers of recall. Though, as soon as he becomes literate, one senses he'll inexorably transcend his meagre beginnings which ring most vividly in this tale. I loved the regional patois as much as the rising political conscience of the working class boy. The years roll by with the daily grind, humilities accompanying the unjust disenfranchisement of workers; Dickensian conditions that were worse in Lancanshire than other industrial zones. Woodruff's effortless prose is as tough as his father's persistent presence and as nuanced as his mum's mercurial mood shifts. Fortunately for readers,'Nab's End' is no end, but a beginning to further tales from post adolesence. Having just closed the covers on Roy McFadyen's, 'at A Cost', I opened Woodruff to discover a parallel story in times bedevilled by poverty and dire economic depression. If you want to visit the comparison and find, at a pinch, an even more extraordinary childhood,'At a Cost' is published and distributed by its author @ 15 Maryann Street, Golden Beach, Queensland, Australia 4551.



3. I came upon this book after hearing brief snippets of it serialised BBC Radio 4 and the World Service.
   It had added interest for me as I know Blackburn (at least modern Blackburn) very well, it was later a surprise to discover I knew virtually nothing of the town.
   The book is evocative and stirring as you follow the authors journey from early childhood to his 16th year, when he finally leaves a deprived, economically and spiritual broken town for London, in hope of work and a better life.
   The journey in between is a rich array of colourful and long forgotton characters and ways of life. Most striking by far is the harshness of past societies in which the poor were virtually ground into the dirt and totally at mercy of commerce. Yet still the love and joy of these kindly, caring and sweet natured people shines through, it took a great deal to make them lose all hope. One cannot help but to think that these poor and hardworking forbares made more than a little of the muscle in the British national psyche.
   The Authors journey is one of love, loss and curiousity, his intelligence is meant for better things than the dust and grime of cotton mills but so hard worked are his people and he that this realisation is a long time coming.
   Highlights characters are Grandma Bridget and the lovley Aunts he visits in Summer. Quite a journey and very much a joy to read.



4. This is a wonderful book which, as an Anglophile, I loved reading. Just a word to those who feel it some of the terms are American. Remember, please, that the author is now living in the US, and new terms become automatically one's own after a while. And yes, there is a sequel to this book!



5. You don't have to have been born in Blackburn (as I was) to appreciate this wonderful true story of a childhood in poverty with all the wit and humour and honesty of the working class. Their hopes for a better and fairer future are vivid and the story ends with an emotional desire from the reader to know how and if this young man succeeds as he takes his steps away from Lancashire. Inevitably the reader will read the sequel Beyond Nab End which is even better but read this first.

5 comments about No Place Safe.

1. This beautifully written book by Kim Reid is both sensitive and timeless. It is about so much more than it appears: A daughter's conflictual and complicated relationship with the mother she loves and yearns for, a black child coming to terms with the white majority, a child faced with the unstoppable murders of children just like her, and a child becoming a woman, to name just a few. Ms. Reid's writing is sensitive and emotional yet not cloying or annoying. She takes us into her experiences with a subtle and skilled hand that allows us to go there right along with her. I came out of reading this book with a profound respect for the writer, as well as a new appreciation of growing up black in the days of the Atlanta child murders. I highly recommend this book and look forward to seeing what the author comes up with next.



2. The way Reid interweaves the story of tragic lost lives of children with her own sort of "lost chldhood" is brilliant, esp. from the point of view of her cop mother being so deeply involved in the cases. It's just really a fantastic read. It has stayed with me for days, especially being a mom. Heartbreaking, of course. And they never found the killer, which just tears me up. But there's much more to the book than that. She weaves that story beautifully with her own.



3. I could not put this book down. I ended up reading all of it in two settings. It is an endearing story of a girl growing up in the most challenging of situations during her tender and impressionable teen years. The "coming of age" story allows the reader to feel like they are there, reflecting back to their own childhoods, and see a very complex world with unfathomable situations through the eyes of a street smart and feisty 13 year old. There were several parts that I laughed out loud and others I was aghast at the very pointed racism that this young teen had to experience. Great book Kim, you are to be well commended for such a great first book.



4. NO PLACE SAFE details the consuming, high-pressure investigations of the 1979-1981 disappearances and murders of black boys and young men in Atlanta--investigations in which author Kim Reid's mother worked as a lead investigator. While this story alone propels this book to read like a compelling novel, Kim's powerful revelations about her schools, her community, her family, and herself make this a powerful document of life in a major Southern city during an especially tumultuous time.



5. Author Kim Reid beautifully captured the voice of an Atlanta 13-year-old who is mother to her younger sister while their single mom works as a police officer; is one of few black students who attend an all-white private school in a distant, affluent neighborhood; and who lives unnervingly close to where dozens of black boys and young men have been murdered (Atlanta Child Murders starting in 1979).
   
   Reid includes information that isn't common knowledge--at least not to me: "Until the early sixties, black officers could arrest only black citizens. In 1979, white and black patrolmen had been allowed to partner in only the last ten years, and black cops were still in a minority, which meant they stuck together outside of work. The only tie that bound black and white cops then was the fact that on the job, they were cops regardless of what they looked like. Fortunately, that was usually enough."
   
   In one instance she brilliantly summarizes her mother's character: A white police officer stopped by her house at 2:00 a.m., expecting to be accommodated. "At two in the morning?' Ma said. Cop or no cop, she sounded like she was ready to bless the man out. There weren't many things that pleased Ma as much as a good night's sleep, which I always believed was here escape from having to work extra jobs, being a cop, a single mother, and just being a black woman in general."
   
   If this book had been written as a young adult novel set in 1979-1982, I would give it five stars. Why? Because it focuses on issues that are still important to teens today. Reid's title is also good for a novel, although I'd suggest she come up with one that hasn't been used before, so it'll be more recognizable. But as a memoir, the book is thin; it should have included more information about the murders, and an more in-depth analysis of what her mother and sister also went through.

5 comments about Ultimate Judgment : A Story of Emotional Corruption, Obsession and Betrayal.

1. Ms. Clairmonte is a severely disturbed woman, who, when she found out she had been left out of the will of her step-father, destroyed the memory of a great man, making up horrible lies, and sued her own mother, leaving her mother broke and penniless. Shame on Ms. Clairmonte, how can she live her with herself?



2. I thought the book was great. I just wish they would have wrapped things up a little more at the end.



3. I am Ms. Meg Clairmonte's Ex Sister-in-law. I have heard for years about Meg's court case and book. My son, her nephew, just turned 18 and graduated from high school. I am a single mother and have struggled for years to support us and now we are trying to send him to Tech school in the fall.
   
   The only reason I am telling you all that is to say this...
   
   I just found out that Meg's step-father, Don had created a trust fund for my son. If the reason Meg sued for all that money was for "therapy" as her lawyer once told me, then why, pray tell, was it necessary to take the trust funds that were supposed to benefit my son and hers. (Yes, she took her own son's money, too. I guess she figured that he wouldn't need any money, either)? Did that additional sum of money make a big difference in her settlement? Well, I can tell you that it would have made a big difference in my son's life right now, when we are trying to scrape up the money for school.
   
   I know you can tell that I am very hurt by this. My guess would be that the reason she did it was because I would not be sucked into the law suit and testify on her behalf. My experience with Meg before Don died and she started telling the world about her life with him was that she was manipulative and spiteful. So, there you are, she has proved me right. And this time it was at my son's expense and hers, too.
   
   Just wish everyone who read the book and felt so sorry for Meg could read this, too. As I knew from the beginning, it was always about the money...



4. I've learned from personal experience that Meg is truely as strong and good hearted as she seems. I cringe at the thought of the horrible things she was forced to endure for so long and can only pray this book touches others as much as it has me. Meg's story inspires everyone to never give up or give in to the wicked people surrounding us. I thank the Lord everyday for the voice he has given her, and hope that others can find peace that have been through similar tragidies.



5. I met this wonderful person that this book was written about. She gave me this book when she learned that I too was abused. It is incredible how she has turned so much pain and suffering into something positive as she shows so clearly in the way she leads her life. I never thought in a million years there was so much abuse going on in our United States. It't time that abuse is stopped including verbal, mental,emotional and sexual. I pray that in opening the scarrs and barring her soul in her book that Megan will be continuely blessed and never forgotten. Your Friend, June

1 comments about Cowboy Princess: Life with My Parents Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

1. who enriched our lives over five decades.
   
   Cheryl Rogers Barnett has truly written a memoir full of Love, Respect, and Admiration for her late parents, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. She writes of the people they were, before she was born, the circumstances of her adoption - yes, Cheryl was adopted by Roy and his first wife - and growing up in the Rogers-Evans* (Roy's first wife died while Cheryl was still a young pre-adolescent child, Dale lovingly took her on as her own) household. Roy, bless his soul, was in many ways, a real cowboy who eschewed the Hollywood lifestyle and could live in the great outdoors - in fact one of their early homes out at Lake Hughes was in a wooded setting - with rattlesnakes! Knowing that this wouldn't work, Roy moved in closer to Los Angeles, but always made sure that his children were grounded and did not have airs about them.
   
   Barnett writes about her growing-up in the Rogers-Evans household, and in reading it one kind of wishes that too were put of a family that truly lived by the Cowboy Code. Roy and Dale were among the kindest folks one could ever meet, and I sure wish I did. Both Roy and Dale were unfailing kind and considerate to most people they met. It speaks volumes that in the one instance Roy ever got angry at fans was when they chose to want to visit him on the day they were burying Cheryl's little sister, Robin, and only AFTER these uncouth and rude people insisted in visiting him, having no consideration for the grief of the family.
   
   She writes of the wonder horse Trigger, of how George "Gabby" Hayes was as different in real life as he was in the movies. Gabby, bless him, was a trained Shakespearian actor who was more accustomed to wearing tweed suits than a bandana and chaps - still, he too made the roles his very own. There are the Hollywood stories and vignettes of growing up knowing John Wayne and so many other Western heroes and other television and movie celebs, written straightforward, (the reader will never have the feeling that this book is a gossipy read) of Nudie the Famous Rodeo Tailor whom Roy helped to get established in Hollywood, and finally of the last decades when Roy and Dale, seeing how different Hollywood had become (mid-1960s), chose to move out to Apple Valley, and live out their lives there.
   
   Throughout it all, Roy and Dale always gave deep love to the people they knew, and encouraged their children to be the best and fine folks in their own right(after learning she was adopted, Cheryl underwent a quest to learn about her real parents, with Roy and Dale supporting her every way). With the happiness there were the tragedies, first Robin, then the young son who died serving in the U.S. Army, and the adopted daughter from Korea, killed in a senseless road accident. Throughout it all, Roy and Dale's faith in God was never unwavering and was always solid. They lived the true meaning of the Cowboy and Cowgirl Codes.*
   
   *(on their very last record together, Roy, Dale and son Dusty recorded a song written by two great friends of mine, Chris Hillman and Steve Hill entitled: "God's Plan" ...that pretty well sums up the honest and rich meaning of the lives they lived.
   
   A warm memoir of a time when the tinsel Cowboys were so very much real - and real people too, unlike the sad imitation that Hollywood has become these days. Thank you, Cheryl Rogers-Barnett for a heartwarming read, and for signing my Roy Rogers-Dale Evans lunchpail in Wickenburg, Arizona last April.