Growing Up Chicago

GROWING UP CHICAGO, edited by David Schaafsma, Lauren DeJulio Bell and Roxanne Pilat, is described by the publisher (Northwestern University Press) as “a collection of coming-of-age stories that reflects the diversity of the city and its metropolitan area.” Given the local connections and list of contributors which includes Samira Ahmed, Stuart Dybek, Nnedi Okorafor, and George Saunders, I was excited to browse this book. The Foreword, from Luis Alberto Urrea, notes that he and the editors are all affiliated with the University of Chicago, “involved in the literary life of this city: as teachers, as facilitators, even helping nonprofit literary outreach programs get a footing here” and originally created this book for high school or college audiences. Our students, particularly those in Senior writing classes will learn much from the varied selections. Rebecca Makkai, for example, contributed a short piece titled “Children of the Fifty-Sixers: Growing Up in Hungarian Chicago” and she readily talks about Chicago’s neighborhoods; about details of the immigrant experience – such as seeing the produce section at Jewel for the first time; and about what it means to be American: “to be both from here and from away, to belong also to a land you’ve never known, to look with perpetual wonder at the lemons in the grocery store.” Chicago's diversity is also reflected in an excerpt from Erika L. Sanchez’s National Book Award Finalist I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter and commentary (“I feel as if I grew up with three languages: English, Italian, and Chicago”) from award-winning author Tony Romano and many more. Look for a copy on our shelves soon.