In ROBBY, the author shares the many, oftentimes humorous, obstacles confronting him as a young boy during the Great Depression up through his hitch in a WWII United States Navy. There can be no doubt the Great Depression of the twenties and thirties was a harsh time. Money was scarce as were jobs. But squeezed in here and there were good times. Robby and his friends never saw themslves as victims rather they accepted the world as "the way it is." We were surrounded by adults who fervently believed "it takes a village to raise a child." Our heroes were real live adults akin to Miss Greenleaf who we believed knew all there was to know about absolutely everything because she was the librarian and must have read all those books. Or Miss Ingram, our 6th, 7th and 8th grade teacher whose dedication held parents and school officials in awe. Then there was Commander Edward L. Ellsberg United States Navy salvage officer. To us kids Elsberg led the most exciting life anone could hope to experience. Just as WWII followed on the heels of the Great Depression more heroes followed. They were not supermen rather they were ordinary men doing their jobs as they saw fit. ROBBY does not deal with great fetes of heroism. ROBBY takes you into a world never to be seen again as seen through the eyes of a teenager ultimately in an adult world. It is an attempt to get the reader to put the book down with a smile and wonder, "did that really happen?"