Many Hands Make Light Work: A Memoir
Many Hands Make Light Work is the rollicking true story of a family of nine children growing up in the college town of Ames, Iowa in the ’60s and ’70s. Inspiring, full of surprises, and laugh-out-loud funny, this utterly unique family champions diversity and inclusion long before such concepts become cultural flashpoints. Cheryl and her siblings are the offspring of an eccentric professor father and unflappable mother. Mindful of their ever-expanding family’s need for cash, her parents begin acquiring tumbledown houses in campus-town, to renovate and rent. Dad, who changes out of his suit and tie into a carpenter’s battered white overalls, like Clark Kent into Superman, is supremely confident his offspring can do anything, whether he’s there or not. Mom, an organizational genius disguised as a housewife, manages nine children so deftly that she finds the time—and heart—to take in student boarders, who stir their own offbeat personalities into this unconventional household. The kids, meanwhile, pour concrete, paint houses, and, at odd moments, break into song, because instead of complaining, they sing as they work, like a von Trapp family in painters caps. Free-wheeling and contagiously cheerful, Many Hands Make Light Work is a winsome memoir of a Heartland childhood unlike any other.
1130003275
Many Hands Make Light Work: A Memoir
Many Hands Make Light Work is the rollicking true story of a family of nine children growing up in the college town of Ames, Iowa in the ’60s and ’70s. Inspiring, full of surprises, and laugh-out-loud funny, this utterly unique family champions diversity and inclusion long before such concepts become cultural flashpoints. Cheryl and her siblings are the offspring of an eccentric professor father and unflappable mother. Mindful of their ever-expanding family’s need for cash, her parents begin acquiring tumbledown houses in campus-town, to renovate and rent. Dad, who changes out of his suit and tie into a carpenter’s battered white overalls, like Clark Kent into Superman, is supremely confident his offspring can do anything, whether he’s there or not. Mom, an organizational genius disguised as a housewife, manages nine children so deftly that she finds the time—and heart—to take in student boarders, who stir their own offbeat personalities into this unconventional household. The kids, meanwhile, pour concrete, paint houses, and, at odd moments, break into song, because instead of complaining, they sing as they work, like a von Trapp family in painters caps. Free-wheeling and contagiously cheerful, Many Hands Make Light Work is a winsome memoir of a Heartland childhood unlike any other.
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Many Hands Make Light Work: A Memoir

Many Hands Make Light Work: A Memoir

by Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy
Many Hands Make Light Work: A Memoir

Many Hands Make Light Work: A Memoir

by Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy

Paperback

$17.95 
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Overview

Many Hands Make Light Work is the rollicking true story of a family of nine children growing up in the college town of Ames, Iowa in the ’60s and ’70s. Inspiring, full of surprises, and laugh-out-loud funny, this utterly unique family champions diversity and inclusion long before such concepts become cultural flashpoints. Cheryl and her siblings are the offspring of an eccentric professor father and unflappable mother. Mindful of their ever-expanding family’s need for cash, her parents begin acquiring tumbledown houses in campus-town, to renovate and rent. Dad, who changes out of his suit and tie into a carpenter’s battered white overalls, like Clark Kent into Superman, is supremely confident his offspring can do anything, whether he’s there or not. Mom, an organizational genius disguised as a housewife, manages nine children so deftly that she finds the time—and heart—to take in student boarders, who stir their own offbeat personalities into this unconventional household. The kids, meanwhile, pour concrete, paint houses, and, at odd moments, break into song, because instead of complaining, they sing as they work, like a von Trapp family in painters caps. Free-wheeling and contagiously cheerful, Many Hands Make Light Work is a winsome memoir of a Heartland childhood unlike any other.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781631526282
Publisher: She Writes Press
Publication date: 08/06/2019
Pages: 312
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy and her eight siblings grew up with a paintbrush in their hands and a song in their hearts. As soon as they were old enough to wrench a nail out of ancient lumber—so it could be used again—they were put to work renovating old houses in Ames, Iowa. Cheryl’s growing-up years included babysitting for a local family that kept a lion as a pet. A real, adolescent-aged lion. Uncaged. Using a flyswatter to defend herself, she survived the lion, and today is a freelance journalist for The Wall Street Journal as well as the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune. The Tribune distributes her articles to newspapers and websites around the country, such as The Seattle Times, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Baltimore Sun, and Orlando Sentinel. Her previous book, USA to the UK: The Easy Way, a lighthearted look at moving overseas, was published by British Petroleum’s London headquarters for an international readership. McCarthy holds an MBA from City University in London and a bachelor's in journalism from Iowa State University. She lives with her husband in Bellingham, Washington.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

1 The Victorian Lady and the Baseball Team 3

2 July 1971. Above the Fruited Plain 17

3 How They Did It 33

4 1964. Hammer-Shammus 52

5 1963. Let Them Swim 59

6 1971. Summertime, But the Livin' Ain't Easy 66

7 Autumn, Late 1960s. Scavenging 75

8 1965. Don't Run in the Building 88

9 1970. Honeybunch and Honeybees 95

10 1968. Weekend at the Lake 109

11 1968. Details Make Perfection 117

12 1969 and 1972. For I Have Sinned 127

13 1969. Easter Magic 135

14 1970. After Midnight 142

15 1970. Piano Lessons 147

16 1970. Built for the Ages 157

17 1971. The Waif and the Amazon 165

18 1970. Downtown, Where All the Lights Are Bright 176

19 1970. On the Farm 193

20 1970. Wait Till the Cows Come Home 203

21 1970. Some Joker 218

22 Only the Brave Deserve the Fair 227

23 1972. King of the Jungle 247

24 1976. From Pittsburgh to Taiwan 257

25 1969. Christmas 268

Epilogue 279

The Stritzel Diaspora 281

Discussion Questions 287

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