For many Kiwi baby boomers, growing up in New Zealand in the 1950s and 60s was a special time - heaps of playmates, freedom to run wild, and opportunity to exercise imagination. Pete Majendie's stories of his childhood in New Brighton capture those experiences. At times laugh-out-loud funny, at other times heartbreaking and poignant, the stories range from the adventures and misadventures of free-range fun with mates to the effects of hereditary deafness and the death of Pete's older brother at age eight on family, neighbours and friends. Pete coped with his brother's death, his mother's debilitating grief and his father's increasing deafness by developing a strong sense of humour, pivotal friendships and a growing interest in and talent for art.