Tourist's Guide to Glengarry (A)

I rarely read books about kids, and enjoy them even more rarely. But this one came highly recommended by my (adult) daughter, so I had to read it - and couldn't put it down. If you like Garrison Keillor, you'd love Ian McGillis : for his sharp eye, his hilarious yet down-to-earth prose, his intimate knowledge of and intimate relationship with a working-class suburb of Edmonton where he grew up. But if you hate Garrison Keillor, you'd love Ian McGillis anyway, for his prose is more light-hearted and structured, that is, much easier and more entertaining to read. Every baby boomer would instantly recognize those fabulous times when CCR were at the peak of their fame, when Black Sabbath and Jethro Tull were still a novelty (McGillis writes about them all), when a dime bought you a set of baseball cards, and when school violence was unheard of - so kids were freer to discover themselves, the world around them, and their place in it. Yet Glengarry is not your average North American suburb: it's in Alberta, so many characters bear East European, often Ukrainian names, and are colorful in their own unique ways waiting to be discovered by the reader. A truly delightful book!