This is a unique memoir of a boy coming of age in the 1930's. A fatherless young boy, who feels rejected by the whole universe, refuses to buckle to a horrendous childhood. Johnny Orlando, Jr. is abandoned by his Father at 2, but his neurotic Mom hangs around until he is 6. He and his sister live with 27 aunts, uncles, cousins & 2 grandparents in a house built by his immigrant grandfather in 1924. Regressed by this chaotic environment he fights to get noticed to no avail. Skinny, nerdy, invisible he waves his arms frantically and only attracts derisive laughter. You may initially join in the laughter, not sure if this is a comic or tragic novel, but as Johnny endures you begin to identify with him. Just as Johnny Orlando,Jr. turns 10 & grows an inch, the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor at end of 1941. Five uncles, his only male role models, are suddenly removed from his life. All of them had been drafted to fight Nazis in Europe. Johnny traces their locations in the newspaper maps and feels he must now be a father to his younger sister. When the war ends his mother returns with a new Stepfather, Hank Chiego. Johnny cannot stand him and has never been able to relate to his Mother. Suzie Orlando is the most intensely defined character of this book. The couple buy a house 20 miles from Rose Point where Johnny, Jr has spent his entire life. The timing could not be worse. Johnny had just entered High School. He is stunned, angry & despairing. After a nightmarish 4 years in High School, Johnny, desperate to get away, impulsively joins the U.S. Air Force 1 day after his graduation. It is the most important decision in his life, because although he is only 17 year old, they were 17 stunted years. Johnny, Jr blossoms in the Air Force both physically & emotionally. Readers will laugh & cry as they root for this classic underdog. If you understand the apostrophe in the title of this zany book you may well do both on the last page.