My angel's name is Fred: Tales of growing up Catholic

My angel's name is Fred: Tales of growing up Catholic by Thomas Byrnes. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780060612726.

"There was that ancient time of childhood," Thomas Byrnes has said, "when people and events, living rooms and backyards, church sanctuaries and Mrs. Thornes delicatessen looked much bigger to me than they do now. Could this be the result of a childs misjudgment? Or is what I see now a misjudgment by an adult? Are things really getting smaller? Im not sure. All I know is that, bigger than reality or not, certain old moments will not go away, but bed down in the memory and make life a little larger than it might otherwise have been." This affectionate memoir of family, teachers, neighbors, and friends, of growing up Catholic in the Chicago of the 30s an 40s, is spirited and tender, funny and warm -- and hard to put down. The author makes you feel the joy of childhood in such pieces as "Grandpas Garden Goes on Forever," "My Tipperary Confession," and "The Rehabilitation of a Choir Boy."