William Zinsser defines memoir as "a window into life." Writers of these resources tutor us in the art of introspection and stock-taking. This is certainly true of Annie Dillard. Her incomparable memoir, An American Childhood is a treat from start to finish. The author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Holy the Firm, and other works recounts her experience of growing up in Pittsburgh during the 1950s and 1960s.

Dillard, one of the true masters of lyrical description, brings to life the childhood pleasures of collecting rocks and insects, the vigors of athletic competition, the rigors of dancing with boys, the discipline of church going, and the manifold exhilarations of reading books. In this engaging memoir, she manages to transform ordinary experiences — for example, playing with the loose skin around her mother's knuckles — into extraordinary events. Dillard pays tribute to her mother's sense of humor and love of language. She also celebrates her father's individuality and romanticism. An American Childhood is concerned with what the author calls "waking up" and what it feels like to "notice that you've been set down in a going world." Annie Dillard's verbal fireworks and the imagery which draws us in leaves us yearning for more.