A Sample of Reviews of

Growing Up True:
Lessons From A Western Boyhood

By Craig S. Barnes

Viewed against the shattering events of the past two months, we can well use a book like this because it takes us right to the point of thinking about what means most to us in life and what human values take us through the tough as well as the good times. … [A] boyish kind of humor pervades the book, mixed with moments of longing and bittersweet sadness.

The Denver Post

Here's a rarity: a memorable memoir in which the author transforms ordinary lives into the extraordinary by sensitivity, honesty, and great writing skill. Beyond all else it is a reminder of the beauty and terror that is the daily struggle of youth-innocence desperate to learn the truth. One senses that this book is the result of a promise made by the author to his family to set down what was. Craig Barnes has done so bravely and wonderfully. What is written here is a true love story, the love of family. Bravo!

AVI
renowned children's book writer
Denver, CO

Craig Barnes has crafted a beautiful, evocative book. This vivid reminiscence of family life in the rural West explains better than any general work I have read the beliefs and values and personal strengths that enabled the so-call 'greatest generation' to surmount the challenges presented by the Great Depression and the world's first global war. As a story of family life in America, Growing Up True is a boyhood classic which belongs on the special shelf that holds Russell Baker's book about Growing Up in Baltimore.

Stewart Udall
Environmentalist and former Secretary of the Interior
Santa Fe

Simple yet beautiful. On the surface, Growing Up True is a story about a boy coming of age on the plains of eastern Colorado. A closer study reveals a touching story about values, family, America, and growing up with grace.

5280 Magazine

Craig Barnes is a superb story teller. I was moved to laughter and tears as he shared the lessons he learned in his boyhood.

Barbara Busse
seminar instructor
Palo Alto, CA

… a gem of a book … what beauty in the telling. It is a non-put-downable book … I wept; I laughed out loud … I hated for it to end. What a gift!

Dr. Jane Bunker, PhD
counseling and psychology
Santa Fe

This was a terrific little book. Funny, touching, down home, and beautifully written! You should go to your local bookstore or get it on Amazon ASAP.

Donald Wurtz
former Assistant Secretary of Education
Carmel, CA