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My Dad Was So Mean: A Memoir of One of the World's Oldest Baby Boomers

by Elizabeth Streb Parks

74 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #04-0316; ISBN 1-4120-2488-9; US$20.00, C$25.00, EUR16.25, £11.26

When my dad hung me over Niagara Falls for the entertainment of my five brothers, it was one of his rare playful moments...and I learned males could be jerks.

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About the Book      About the Author      Excerpts      Catalogue Information

About the Book

My Dad Was So Mean is the true story of one girl's experiences growing up with five feisty brothers (four older) in Buffalo, New York, during the early 1950's. Curious, adventurous kids, they drive their father nearly crazy, until the day the girl makes a momentous, family-changing discovery.

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About the Author

The neighborhood in Ohio had a great celebration when World War II came to an end on V-J Day in early September, 1945. But a few weeks later, the neighborhood had another impromptu celebration when my mom, who had previously given birth to four boys in eight years, finally gave birth to her first girl, me. A little over a year later, she did it again: had another boy. To say the male influence in my life has been tremendous is an understatement. Outnumbered but not outsmarted, all I wanted was a second bathroom!

A Charles Dickens' novel describes my life: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...." Living a block away from the main library made my natural quest for knowledge a reality of great expectations. Grinding poverty could have made for a bleak house, but the love of our family helped overcome much adversity.

Through a series of serendipitous experiences, I came to the realization that there is a Divine Being, with a sense of humor, guiding my life. Born in Ohio, but living in various states, such as New York, Arizona, California, Florida, and Hawaii, I have an appreciation for the beauty and diversity of the landscape and the people of North America. As an older "Baby Boomer" with a husband who's been my mate for nearly 40 years and 2 grown children, a girl and a boy, it's been quite an adventure.

But my daughter giving birth to my one and only grandchild, a boy named Kevie Keanu, added a new color to the rainbow of my life. I write, so that he will know what came before....my experience is a treasure and my gift to him and his generation.

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Excerpt

It should be against the law. In fact, it probably was. But my dad did it anyway: he picked me up and hung me over the rail at Niagara Falls. And everybody laughed, except me and my mom, Ann. She said, "Verne, stop that! You're scaring her!" ...

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Catalogue Information

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