A Gal Growing Up Green Creek: A Collection of Memories of Farm Life in the Midwest

by Anita C Deters

144 pages, Paperback

Published May 21, 2025

Reviews

[Angela Nieman]

I just finished this book & each chapter just kept getting better! Loved hearing about Dorothy, & your memory of Verona, & all the school stories made me think about the closeness of Green Creek classmates, and the Pinochle chapter reminded me of always being at grandmas on the weekends & someone always being there to play with! And of course, “that’s right!” A great book to read to appreciate the simpler things in life.

[Tenno]

This is a lovely collection of personal essays from a lovely human being. Like her, the book radiates joy off every page. The essays take place all around a farm and a small German Catholic town in Illinois.
It's an anecdotal snapshot of Americana. It's also the kind of book I wish everyone would challenge themselves to write. Many say they will; few do. It's a brief personal history that recreates a life that likely doesn't exist anywhere anymore.
I would have loved for the author to include more about the tone of the place--a little more description of things for those of us who have never experienced anything like it. In addition, my favorite parts were the author reflecting on these memories from the present and there wasn't as much of that as there could have been.
Read this. Then go write one like it if your own.