How to Cremate a Parakeet: And Other Tales of an Adventurous Childhood

A love letter to mischief - and a case for letting kids get away with a little more of it.Equal parts hilarious and quietly tender, Christopher Byrne's tales are a joyful reminder of what unsupervised hours and a little risk can give a kid - room to invent, to fail, to figure things out- no adult required, no permission asked.This was life as the "children of benign neglect" knew it: unsupervised, occasionally hazardous, and gloriously theirs. From an "exile" to summer camp, to theological debates over blessing a turtle's grave, these true stories reflect the world kids lived in-and from their perspective.Long before "free-range kids" needed a name, Byrne and his friends filled their world with fun they created, solved moral issues on their own terms, and overcame personal challenges to become more fully themselves.Christopher Byrne is an author and toy expert known as The Toy Guy(R). He has written many books on toys and toy history. A graduate of Boston University's College of Fine Arts, he is also a theater critic and biographer. He lives and plays in New York City where he is still more likely to ask for forgiveness than permission."An elegy - and a plea - for the kind of time and freedom that made childhood so intense, so goofy, so worth living. This book captures the "Kid Mindset" the schemes, the stupid plans, when you could refashion the world seven times in an afternoon."-Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids and co-founder of Let Grow."With the wealth of parenting how-to books flooding the market, one might believe there is little room for another. Enter How to Cremate a Parakeet: And Other Tales of an Adventurous Childhood, a hilarious blend of memoir and parenting guide that tackles topics other books won't touch."-D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review