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9781628801040

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The perfect gift for the aging Baby Boomer? Try The Adventures of the Squeezebox Kid by Ray Guadagni. He may have been a non-reader as a child ... Playing instead with plastic toy soldiers and cowboys, and smelling the glue on the model kits ... But he is a wonderful writer. His descriptions are spot on, and not specific to his growing up in Napa. I know this because my husband-born in 1948, and raised in a working class Chicago suburb neighborhood-laughed and laughed as he read Ray's book. Jujubes and grandma Nonni and Big Al will be almost too familiar to readers. Napa today may be different than a lot of other places in the U.S., but in the post-WWII era, the fabulous 50s-Napa was just another sleepy middle-class town. Ray Guadagni brings every Baby Boomer's fond childhood memories to life in his very entertaining memoir. You will not stop laughing. And you will relive your own childhood in a very fun way. Not unlike Jean Shepherd's now classic A Christmas Story and its heartwarming description of a small boy and his family in the 1940s, this memoir brings to life childhood in a typical blue collar 1950s town. Diane Dillon Napa County Supervisor Thornton Wilder's Our Town comes to California! This author's debut offering contains perfectly captured scenes and textures from his life growing up in Napa, California. One of the first wave of Baby Boomers (born 1946) he describes poignantly, sometimes painfully, and always joyously the fabric of small town life in the 1950s and 1960s. In describing his coming of age, this author has the gift to see and understand the power of a mother's love, the power of fortitude, the power of forgiveness, and the ability to share all of that intimately with his readers. This volume provides a rich history of Napa during the post-War years. An offspring of the Greatest Generation, this work by the first of the Baby Boomers is an important chronicle to read now, and for future generations. Richard A. Bennett Napa Superior Court Judge (Ret.) Using this book alone, one could reconstruct with exactness, a lost time and place. Ray Guadagni has a novelist's eye for detail and an honest, humorous, and poignant understanding of what daily life meant. Having been born and raised in Napa (my family going back to the 1870s), Ray touched my sense of nostalgia in an honest and moving way! Great read! Daniel Lonergan Retired police officer and lifetime Napa resident My family, Wagenknecht, moved to Napa in 1960. I was a kindergartener. Napa was known for its state hospital. We were all closer to our heritages; Wagenknechts were German. There were more ethnic neighborhoods. Parents didn't hover. Get out of the house till mom hollers your names from the porch or the streetlights come on. I loved growing up here. Ray has brought us back in time to experience this place through his well-spun story told with head and heart. Brad Wagenknecht Napa County Supervisor This book captures growing up in Napa in the '50s and '60s and brought back a lot of memories of the ""good ole days."" It is truly a great memoir and brought back a lot of the Italian heritage that was so prominent in Napa at the time. Ray's description of the people and the places of the time took me back and was a very accurate description of the way it was. A great book that anyone from Napa would enjoy. Gary Garaventa Napa native and business owner ""Get out of the house, it's a nice day!"" And we did. Ray has captured how the Greatest Generation shaped our own. A nostalgic account for baby boomers and a guide for our children to help them understand where we come from. Ray's openness is touching-I played right field too. Scott Sedgley Napa City Councilmember and lifelong Napan

The perfect gift for the aging Baby Boomer? Try The Adventures of the Squeezebox Kid by Ray Guadagni. He may have been a non-reader as a child ... Playing instead with plastic toy soldiers and cowboys, and smelling the glue on the model kits ... But he is a wonderful writer. His descriptions are spot on, and not specific to his growing up in Napa. I know this because my husband-born in 1948, and raised in a working class Chicago suburb neighborhood-laughed and laughed as he read Ray's book. Jujubes and grandma Nonni and Big Al will be almost too familiar to readers. Napa today may be different than a lot of other places in the U.S., but in the post-WWII era, the fabulous 50s-Napa was just another sleepy middle-class town. Ray Guadagni brings every Baby Boomer's fond childhood memories to life in his very entertaining memoir. You will not stop laughing. And you will relive your own childhood in a very fun way. Not unlike Jean Shepherd's now classic A Christmas Story and its heartwarming description of a small boy and his family in the 1940s, this memoir brings to life childhood in a typical blue collar 1950s town. Diane Dillon Napa County Supervisor Thornton Wilder's Our Town comes to California! This author's debut offering contains perfectly captured scenes and textures from his life growing up in Napa, California. One of the first wave of Baby Boomers (born 1946) he describes poignantly, sometimes painfully, and always joyously the fabric of small town life in the 1950s and 1960s. In describing his coming of age, this author has the gift to see and understand the power of a mother's love, the power of fortitude, the power of forgiveness, and the ability to share all of that intimately with his readers. This volume provides a rich history of Napa during the post-War years. An offspring of the Greatest Generation, this work by the first of the Baby Boomers is an important chronicle to read now, and for future generations. Richard A. Bennett Napa Superior Court Judge (Ret.) Using this book alone, one could reconstruct with exactness, a lost time and place. Ray Guadagni has a novelist's eye for detail and an honest, humorous, and poignant understanding of what daily life meant. Having been born and raised in Napa (my family going back to the 1870s), Ray touched my sense of nostalgia in an honest and moving way! Great read! Daniel Lonergan Retired police officer and lifetime Napa resident My family, Wagenknecht, moved to Napa in 1960. I was a kindergartener. Napa was known for its state hospital. We were all closer to our heritages; Wagenknechts were German. There were more ethnic neighborhoods. Parents didn't hover. Get out of the house till mom hollers your names from the porch or the streetlights come on. I loved growing up here. Ray has brought us back in time to experience this place through his well-spun story told with head and heart. Brad Wagenknecht Napa County Supervisor This book captures growing up in Napa in the '50s and '60s and brought back a lot of memories of the good ole days. It is truly a great memoir and brought back a lot of the Italian heritage that was so prominent in Napa at the time. Ray's description of the people and the places of the time took me back and was a very accurate description of the way it was. A great book that anyone from Napa would enjoy. Gary Garaventa Napa native and business owner Get out of the house, it's a nice day! And we did. Ray has captured how the Greatest Generation shaped our own. A nostalgic account for baby boomers and a guide for our children to help them understand where we come from. Ray's openness is touching-I played right field too. Scott Sedgley Napa City Councilmember and lifelong Napan

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