The Courage To Be Me by Elderwood author John C. Kimber might well have been titled "Slices of Life during the 1940's and 1950's". It is a series of interconnected short stories set against the backdrop of two wars. Each story has its own defining moment, as a young boy grows to maturity and is forced to make decisions which will eventually develop his character, personality and values.

Beginning with the rumored air raid over Los Angeles in 1942, through a series of family moves further and further from the West Coast, John develops relationships with Japanese families who were relocated during World War II, and with his Quaker relatives who make a home for some of them.

His early memories of a nation at war, mixed with his parents' religious convictions and his desire to be a "normal adolescent", give the reader a fresh set of eyes to revisit a little known piece of the United States, and especially California, history.

The Courage To Be Me is a series of true stories, written for all ages, but specifically suited for a classroom setting of middle school students, their teachers and parents.

Approximately one third of the stores are centered around life in the Central Valley towns of Lindsay and Porterville during World War II. Several other major segments will take the reader to the countryside of Pennsylvania and the Southern California towns of Whittier, La Habra, and Fullerton.

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