“I grew up watching the stories of The Waltons on TV and enjoying the adventures of the Walton kids. Those stories pale in comparison to the misadventures and odd ventures of Herb’s untethered boyhood. These stories make the Waltons seem like quiet, simple, boringly normal folk. Herb’s grandpa could have had a sitcom just with his wacky life events. Frankly, it is a wonder Herb survived drowning in outhouses or driving lessons at 4:30 a.m. Seriously, can you even imagine a Waltons episode where Grandpa, in bed, gave a driving lesson at 4:30 a.m. to a twelve-year-old who was taught to drive a stick shift by holding a toilet plunger? Then expected the twelve-year-old to consistently drive six miles to do farmwork? This book is filled with crazy wisdom, like stupid places to put your thumb, the mercy of two biscuits, or things that could kill you—like riding in a child’s car that is roped to the back of a Ford.
“The author—who survived all this make-you-want-to-cry-and-laugh-at-the-same-time Green Acres–from-hell hazing—writes a wise, rational life-advice epilogue. The epilogue is worth the price of the book and deeply impressed this theologian. I read Herb’s words, and they sound like lost pages of the Stoic philosophers Epictetus and Seneca, as well as the ideal of Epicurus, which was to enjoy the simple pleasures of life and friends.”
—Rev. Dr. Paul M. Ashby
“I LOVED THE BOOK! From scorpions to swimming lessons, dances to dynamite, this is the story of a childhood well spent. Reading this book feels like you’re gathered around listening to a friend tell a well-loved story, the kind that has been polished in the retelling until the ebb and flow are just right.
“Bryce’s book not only opens a door into a world of boyhood mischief in the last era when it was OK to let children play with dynamite, but it also looks through that door with both feet still firmly planted in the twenty-first century. Few stories talk about World War II rationing and then go on to make a Back to the Future reference! Thoroughly enjoyable from cover to cover.”
—Lorie Hoffman, MFA
“Me and the Cottonwood Tree: An Untethered Boyhood is the delightful story of a happy childhood, full of exploration, adventure, and learning, nurtured among an expansive, multigenerational and loving family.”
—Marcia Barton, English professor emeritus, Seattle Central College
