A Milestone Day

A Milestone Day takes place in St. Louis, Mo. and covers one day in the life of three young boys and a few colorful peripheral characters as well. It takes place in the late summer of 1957, a beautiful time to be alive, with flashback chapters for each of the three main characters and events significant to their character development. The basic theme of A Milestone Day is "How much trouble can three young boys get into (and hopefully out of) in a single day's adventures." The book is geared to be most enjoyable for boys and girls in the 11 - 15 year old age group, but is really a great book for all ages.

The era in which the book takes place was a great time to be alive. It was a simpler way of life then. Most neighborhoods had their own grocery store, drugstore, shoe repair shop, delicatessen, etc. Just about everything you needed then was in access without requiring a vehicle.

We had seasons marked by the burning of autumn leaves, snow in the winter, and long, very hot summers. The summers were full of life - bats in the evenings, katydids and crickets by the thousands, There were numerous street vendors - from the local hot tamale vendor with a hand cart to long vegetable trucks with every conceivable kind of fruit and vegetable to be sold right in front of your house.

It was a magical era that doesn't exist today, replaced by mega malls, mega stores of every kind, and a world of electronic devices that were only science fiction at that time. Given a choice, I would take then over now any day.