Kid on the Go!
Memoir of My Childhood and Youth
Finalist in the 2022 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards for Autobiography (non-regional)
Growing up in Elmira, Ontario in the 1950s and 1960s was not ordinary. It was total freedom -- fishing, hunting, building things, navigating bullies, first loves, and quiet rebellion -- in a small industrially-polluted Canadian town that shaped a generation of boys who had to figure out the world almost entirely on their own.
Neill McKee's vivid childhood and youth memoir takes readers through his formative years with honesty, humour, and self-drawn illustrations that capture the spirit of a boy becoming a man in postwar Canada. From the rock and roll culture of the 1960s, to the shadow of the Vietnam War (the town's chemical factory produced Agent-Orange for that debacle); from becoming a youth leader, to searching for direction in university, Kid on the Go! is the story of every boy who ever needed to escape the life in which he feared being trapped.
It's a prequel to the multiple award-winning Finding Myself in Borneo and My University of the World -- the complete trilogy of one remarkable Canadian life told across three books, which can be read in any order or as standalones. For readers of North American coming-of-age memoirs, 1950s and 1960s nostalgia, childhood and youth stories, and anyone who grew up in a small town and found their own way out, or just dreamed about it.
Kid on the Go! is a humorous and poignant story about the author’s childhood and youth, growing up in a, then, industrially-polluted small town in Ontario, Canada. McKee invites readers to take a journey that will cause them to reflect on the building blocks of their own adult lives.
290 pages / 107 photos & illustration / 5.5 x 8.5
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-7329457-5-3. $18.95
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-7329457-6-0. $8.95
Audiobook: ISBN: 978-1-7329457-7-7. $15.99
Prices in USD and vary by retailer outlet.
Subjects: Memoir / Childhood / Adolescence / Youth / Environmental Pollution / Agent Orange / Hunting and Fishing / Work and Play / Hormonal Changes / Sexual Attraction / Bullying / Rebelling Against Authority / Intellectual Awakening /
Choosing a Career
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Kid on the Go!
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Neill McKee's new book, Kid on the Go!, reminds us of the importance of storytelling, for as author Brian McLaren says, "It is through storytelling that we are given direction, values, vision and inspiration." The description of McKee's childhood could be ours, and that is why this book is important. He has sought to understand what made him the adult who would eventually visit and work in over 80 countries. But I think this memoir is more than about venturing out in a geographical sense. It is about seeking new experiences, venturing out in a social sense, forming and valuing relationships with the stranger and those who think differently. It is all told with a gentle sense of humour and delightful drawings.
★★★★★
—Bruce Williamson, Port Hope, Ontario Reviewed on Amazon.ca
Kid on the Go! does an impressive thing, it uses naive illustrations to tell an ever-evolving story of growth and maturation. Neill McKee covers his early life in the middle of the 20th century—kids exploring neighborhoods and creeks, and young emotions, in approachable prose and conversational storytelling. The illustrations that accompany these anecdotes are similarly plucky, sketchy, and approachable. You can feel the artist's youth pour through the sketchy lines. As young Neill matures, the content of his stories develop into exploring sexuality, physicality, disillusionment. His prose gets more sophisticated too—we read about complicated emotions in more complicated syntaxes. But why I want to recommend this book, is that the drawings stay the same. Sure, he begins to draw more mature subjects: electroshock therapy, ugly cityscapes, racy cars and women, but the style still retains that childlike sketchiness and approachability. That juxtaposition is really captivating. So, I'd like to thank the author for summoning the bravery to both write and draw his story.
★★★★★
—Dav Yendler, illustrator, Los Angeles, California, USA - Reviewed on Amazon.com
Neill McKee has the ability to explain life’s experiences in a way I can easily relate to. When I read about McKee’s early adventures and the lessons he learned, I experienced a lot of reborn fun, joy and memories of the projects my friends and I created, with nothing but imagination and inspiration. They were just like what McKee writes about with his classic style and humor.
★★★★★
Charles Rolison, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Reviewed on Amazon.com
This was such a moving and engaging story. The author did such an excellent job of regaling readers with personal memories and both hilarious and sentimental moments from his youth that many readers would be able to relate to, while also painting an image of life in the Canadian small-town lifestyle the author grew up in. Acting as the reader’s eyes and ears in the era and setting, the imagery and the descriptive way the author wrote really transported one to the childhood the author had lived through, and even the descriptive smells that defined the different parts of town felt like they could be easily conjured when reading.
The highs and lows the author describes in this narrative paint a very special yet relatable picture of childhood in those times, and even some things that readers could be able to relate to now. From gaining one’s first pet as a child to the tragic loss of that pet years later, and everything in-between, the author covers a lot of memories and topics that explore his childhood, and the inclusion of original photographs from the author’s life and original drawings as well made the author’s life really pop in the reader’s minds.
A memorable, insightful, and entertaining memoir, author
Neill McKee’s “Kid on the Go!: Memoir of My Childhood and Youth” is a must-read nonfiction book. The way the author was able to cover his childhood and youth and present it in a way that gave voice to those who have experiences worth noting without having to have had a particular tragedy occur gave this book a unique voice, and personal experiences of my own life that the author touched upon showed how readers would be able to find instances and moments in the author’s life to relate to, which is the perfect way to bring readers into the nonfiction genre.
★★★★★
—Anthony Avina, Author Reviewed on Amazon.com
Loved the descriptions of the adventures of unsupervised boys. Risk-taking abounds. It was a page turner -- what is he going to do next? How can his seeking for spiritual truth be resolved? A very evocative memoir with layers of meaning.
★★★★★
Also see ratings and reviews on Goodreads.com
Born shortly after World War II ended, Neill McKee grew up during the 1950s and 60s in Elmira, a small town in Ontario where his father and uncle owned a farm equipment business. Given lots of freedom to roam, Neill and his siblings, cousins, and friends had many adventures, some that would certainly make a protective parent cringe. In Kid on the Go! Memoir of My Childhood and Youth, McKee tells gives an interesting, often humorous, account of those days.
The story also offers a glimpse of what life in general was like in his hometown, which melded Mennonite farms, a slaughterhouse, and a chemical factory that manufactured DDT. His first chapter gives a tongue-in-cheek account of all the interesting odors that emanated from each of the key industries and how town residents could tell which direction the wind was blowing.
Throughout the story we see McKee's world through the lens of the child who lived it, with some commentary on how his perspective changed over the years. Readers will also note how society in general has changed since the middle of the last century.
With illustrations and photos by the author, Kid on the Go! makes for an interesting read for those aged 16 and up.
★★★★
Cynthia Hudson,
In Kid on the Go! Neill McKee describes his adventures and misadventures while growing up in a small town in southern Ontario, Canada, where the smells of a chemical factory, mixed with the scent of manure from nearby farms, permeate the community. With interesting and humorous stories, interspersed with drawings and photos, McKee takes the reader through the challenges and disappointments of his life, from early years to a difficult adolescence and finally finding his grounding in his late teens, ultimately leading him to an international career in communication for social change. Kid on the Go! is an infinitely readable story
★★★★★
—Blair McDowell, Reviewed on Amazon.com