Rudy Shappee paints a picture of childhood and family with broad brushstrokes of love in his book, "Making My Way." He is magnanimous in making allowances for the foibles of people he grew up with in a rural Oregon coastal town during the middle of the century. The values and basic skills that he learned as a boy, are universal to the survival of any society.

He writes of loyalty, humor, and comradeship among boyhood friends along with the danger and beauty of an unforgiving sea that provided the family livelihood. His parable of wartime generosity, when people strayed on the other side of the law to feed neighbors, asks the question, is it better to follow the letter of the law, or follow the dictates of the heart?

Laugh and cry as you get caught up in this world of secret rooms, boyhood adventures, odd jobs, and loss of a first love, in a boy's journey to manhood.

If you want to rekindle memories of your own childhood or learn about how you wish your childhood had been, read this book

Rudy Shappee paints a picture of childhood and family with broad brushstrokes of love in his book, "Making My Way." He is magnanimous in making allowances for the foibles of people that he grew up with in a rural Oregon coastal town during the middle of the century. The values and basic skills, that he learned as a boy, are universal to the survival of any society.

He writes of loyalty, humor, and comradeship among boyhood friends along with the danger and beauty of an unforgiving sea that provided the family livelihood. His parable of wartime generosity, when people strayed on the other side of the law to feed neighbors, asks the question, is it better to follow the letter of the law, or follow the dictates of the heart?

Laugh and cry as you get caught up in this world of secret rooms,adventures, odd jobs, and loss of a first love, in a boy's journey to manhood.

If you want to rekindle memories of your own childhood, or read about how you wish your childhood had been, read this book.

"Making My Way" is a nostalgic trip back to small town America of the 40s and 50s. Feels good when high tech and millennium headlines furrow the brow. Shappee, born in 1939, soaked up character, backbone and indelible memories in Warrenton, Oregon and other towns along the magic coastline. In this memoir, Shappee shares personal memories of his family, of early homes and chums. His dad was a fisherman, gone for long periods, so mom did the raising. In his teens, Shappee got to help his dad prepare the boat for long runs to the Columbia River and the Pacific. One home sat across from the general store and gas station at Newton's Corners, a pefect spot for curious, young eyes and ears. The author shows what really brought indoor plumbing home. "The biggest bear I had ever seen," had trapped his mother in the outhouse. A flashlight and screwdriver helped young Shappee discover a forgotten, boarded-up library in one house; including books with pictures of body parts! We ride along as the boy gains his sea legs aboard his father's boat in heavy seas, and smell the printer's ink during his first newspaper days on the hometown Columbia Beacon. All