Written in a compellingly simple style, Growing Up True evokes the struggles of a boy stretching for manhood. Whether describing the dares of taunting schoolmates, his perfectionist father's attempts to true a fence by adjusting the posts just a "whisker more," a prissy aunt caring for a freezing lamb in the family kitchen, or his own coming to terms with a suicide, Craig Barnes offers readers a hopeful message in which integrity, hard work, kindness, and tolerance remain bedrock.