"This debut novel is a page-turning drama about familial devotion. Set in contemporary Chicago, it is the harrowing story of Dirk, a young motherless man starved for his self-centered father's approval. A rescued pit bull alters their lives irrevocably, embroiling them in the terrible misuses to which the breed is prey. As Dirk's father becomes entangled in criminal activity, Dirk must quickly come to terms with a series of legal and moral crises and determine for himself what it truly means to be a man. "Calcagno's troubling, evocative, socially-conscious, powerful little?novel Love Like a Dog, shocks to remind that sometimes from the small dark?corners of humanity rise some of the most luminous of bestial graces."? ?-- H. G. Carrillo -- author of Loosing My Espanish "This is a perfect book about dogs, people and the incredible relationships they develop. Love Like A Dog depicts human and animal strength, weakness, loyalty, love, trust - all surrounding the beautiful and much misunderstood pit bull terrier. It is no wonder people who own pit bulls fall in love for a lifetime." -- Wendy DeCarlo Young Owner, DogObedience Group, LLC Voted Best Trainer, year after year, by the readers of ChicagolandTails

Growing Up Chicago is a collection of coming-of-age stories that reflects the diversity of the city and its metropolitan area. Primarily memoir, the book collects work by writers who spent their formative years in the region to ask: What characterizes a Chicago author? Is it a certain feel to the writer's language? A narrative sensibility? The mention of certain neighborhoods or locales? While the authors represented here write from distinct local experiences, some universals emerge, including the abiding influence of family and friends and the self-realizations earned against the background of a place sparkling with promise and riven by inequality, a place in constant flux. The stories evoke childhood trips to the Art Institute of Chicago, nighttime games of ringolevio, and the giant neon Magikist lips that once perched over the expressway, sharing perspectives that range from a young man who dreams of becoming an artist to a single mother revisiting her Mexican roots, from a woman's experience with sexual assault to a child's foray into white supremacy. This book memorably explores culture, social identity, and personal growth through the eyes of Chicagoans, affirming that we each hold the ability to shape the places in which we live and write and read as much as those places shape us.