Kid on the Go!

Kid on the Go! is Neill McKee's third work of creative nonfiction. It's a standalone prequel to his award-winning Finding Myself in Borneo. In this new book, McKee takes readers on a journey through his childhood, adolescence, and teenage years from the mid-40s to the mid-60s, in the small, then industrially-polluted town of Elmira, Ontario, Canada-one of the centers of production for Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. McKee's vivid descriptions, dialog, and self-drawn illustrations are a study of how a young boy learned to play and work, fish and hunt, avoid dangers, cope with death, deal with bullies, and to build or restore "escape" vehicles. You may laugh out loud as the author recalls his exploding hormones, attraction to girls, rebellion against authority, and survival of 1960s' "rock & roll" culture and emerging on the other side as a youth leader. After leaving Elmira, McKee describes his intensely searching university years, trying to decide which career path to follow. Except for a revealing postscript, the story ends when he accepts a volunteer teaching position on the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. 

1. Odiferous Ontario Origins - 1
2. Stories of Elmira and Going Elsewhere -17
3. First Dreams of Africa - 35
4. Going Fishing with Surplus Sons - 47
5. On Guns, Religion, and Rituals - 61
6. Final Departures - 77
7. Breaking Out - 91
8. Perpetual Motion - 103
9. Proving Ground - 111
10. Girls, Hormones, and Bullies - 123
11. End of My Bloody Early Adolescence - 137
12. Canadian Graffiti - 155
13. Travels with Holden Caulfield - 179
14. The Times They Are A-Changin' - 185
15. Existential Leaps - 205
16. Call of the Wild Goose - 223
17. A Chinook Wind Arrives - 233

Postscript: Closing the Circle - 249

About the Author - 272