Growing Up Mostly Normal in the Middle of Nowhere: A Memoir
By John Sheirer

So begins John Sheirer's delightful Growing Up Mostly Normal in the Middle of Nowhere. With the depth of a memoir and the flow of a novel, Sheirer chronicles how his simple youth of farm, sports, school, nature, and family led him to an unlikely adulthood as an author and college professor.

In bookstores overflowing with shallow celebrity "tell-alls" and wallowing rants about dysfunctional upbringings, this memoir stands out as a beautifully written account of a mostly happy, mostly normal, fully real life at once both ordinary and extraordinary. Sheirer explores intensely personal experiences and relationships with humor, surprise, awe, suspense, and deep insight.

Growing Up Mostly Normal in the Middle of Nowhere teaches us we can go home again . . . in fact, like the author, we never really left.

2004 Sante Fe Writers Project Literary Award Finalist

A brilliant and delightful showcase of boyhood memories . . . this memoir sings with honesty, humor, and grace. -- Kevin O'Hara, author of Last of the Donkey Pilgrims

The writing is engaging and enjoyable, the themes universal. As you learn about the author's life, you might even learn a bit about yourself, too. -- Suzanne Strempek Shea, author of Songs From a Lead-Lined Room and Shelf Life