Grampa's amazing stories about living in the jungle with card-playing gorillas and meeting a polar bear who knits sweaters make people think his mind is wandering, but Molly believes he is telling the truth.

Presents the different ways grandfathers show their grandchildren love, from putting extra marshmallows in hot chocolate to sending cards and telling stories.

A Rabelaisian collection of prose and poesy as recalled by that Old Curmudgeon, Grampa. The stories, limericks and one-liners range from rather bland to quite blue. Many Golden Oldies are included in the book. Warning:This collection is definitely not for children.

Travel the highways and backroads from Minnesota to Nevada in search of treasure and truth in early 60's middle America."Grampa's Keys" open secrets reaching back in time and stretching out across the landscape as described by 14 year old Rickey while he rides along in a beat up car with an old man he hardly knows. The boy values trust, respect, and hard work,qualities he's learned from his single mother. The old man and his cohorts smoke, drink, and covort in beer joints and truckstops, arguing and fighting across thousands of miles, each after a reward that only the keys can provide.

A collection of serious and not so serious short stories from the coast of Maine. Some of these stories are intended to amuse, and some may touch a chord and bring a tear. But they are all intended to help pass some leisure time, perhaps while waiting for the kids to get home from school, or the even the winter to pass into spring. No guarantee is given concerning the political correctness of any of these stories, but when reading one should remember that some people actually enjoy satire. And for those who do not, the author humbly submits that perhaps those who can't laugh at history may be worrying about the wrong things.

When thirteen-year-old Nathan loses both his parents, Social Services seems likely to be his next stop. Surprisingly, his maternal grandfather, a freewheeling soul if ever there was one, steps in to offer guardianship and support. Can Grampa nurture the young teen appropriately? Will Grampa help Nathan navigate the trauma he suffered at the hands of his abusive father? Does Grampa understand what happens at school? Can he advise Nathan about girls and dating and sex? Can Nathan live up to his grandfather’s principles? Although Grampa is a pot-smoking, latte-drinking, porch-sitting kind of guy, he is also a force to be reckoned with. Having rejected many of society’s norms for himself, how will he react if Nathan chooses not to follow his lead? Will Grampa’s stories, outlook on life, and unique philosophies be sufficient to guide Nathan through all life has to offer—the good, the bad, and the otherwise? Will Grampa’s powerful example provide the tools that Nathan needs to become the man he wants to be? Grampa’s Way is a simple coming of age tale for Nathan and a heartwarming story about a boy and his grandfather. This story offers an alternative way to think about the structure of family, to imagine wealth, and to exist as individuals in an often complex and hurtful world. Grampa’s Way encourages respect, acceptance, kindness, and generosity as lifelong pursuits.

A memoir and a history, Grampas Left Arm tells the story of Jakob Tirjan and Annie Kaufold, immigrants who settled in southeastern Pennsylvania in the early 1900s. Their village on the Austro-Hungarian eastern frontier faded into history when the province of Galicia came under Polish rule after WWI. The Authors curiosity about the origins of his name led him to explore Eastern Europes troubled twentieth century history and the societal transformations which shaped his political perspective of the United States. Ethnic clashes, the Red Scare, the KKK, fair wages and strikes, even the Business Plot were all heated topics around the dining table. These arguments planted the seeds of curiosity about the origin of his name. No one in his family knew for sure if Grampa Tirjan was really Austrian, as he claimed, or exactly where he had come from. But they all agreed that greedy captains of industry and politicians had their own interests at heart and working men and women had to look out for themselves. Jim Tirjans post-WW II all-American boyhood echoed many of the major events of the century: wars, the Depression, Communist spies, the isolation of rural life, lives painfully disrupted in modern industrial society and our fascination with and dependence on the automobile. Grampa Tirjan labored at Baldwin Locomotive Works while Grandma Annie ran a boarding house. Jims mother bought a new 1931 Plymouth for $530 with housekeeping wages. Jim picked string beans with prisoners and earned a masters degree. His story is told with humor and compassion and a great appreciation for the forces of history we ignore at our peril. Was Grampa Tirjan really an Austrian? Indeed and then some.