Glad to Be a Ladd

Experience with me what life was like living with thirteen other family members in a two-bedroom, one-bath house in a typical 1950s middle-class, postwar American neighborhood. This story is an unusual combination of revealing autobiography, insightful self-help, and handy classroom teacher's guide.

Survive rides with me and my mother and eight siblings on summer vacations to Southern California beaches and campgrounds in our 1950 two-door, two-tone green Plymouth station wagon. Join the fourteen of us for a typical family dinner in our moderate-size kitchen that was designed for six. Accompany my very pregnant mother on a bus in 1945 to Fresno to stay with the in-laws she had never met before while my dad awaited his Army discharge orders.

Anyone born between 1946 and 1960 will find a delightful nostalgic journey down the baby boomers' memory lane. Others might use the story of my personal failures and subsequent triumphs to create value and positive changes in life. Teachers may find my suggested supplemental teaching techniques valuable to incorporate into the classroom.

Enjoy this book. I wrote it as a clear and compelling testimony describing my childhood recollections that convey to you why I am Glad to Be a Ladd.