Letters from Bum Bum

About the Book

This book consists of a series of personal essays, which are in the form of letters from a grandfather to his grandchildren. These essays are, meant to tell about the author's life to three granddaughters, who were three-and-a-half years old, one-and-a-half years old, and newborn when this book was written. The first essay explains how the name "Bum Bum" in the title came about. Other essays talk about the author's childhood, schooling, work, travels, and his efforts to get to know his granddaughters. While these essays are written with a wider audience in mind, it is hoped that someday Isa, Lari, and Gia will read them and remember the special times they shared with Bum Bum long ago.

About the Author

Rick McManus enjoys painting with words. His first novel, The Climb to Eternity, published in 2000, presents an allegory about an afterlife that requires newcomers to learn and to grow. In 2004 he published Rancho El Contento, a biography of his mother, a charismatic seeker of answers to life's questions. In 2007 he published his autobiography, Life As a Dance. Through dancing he found the person he always wanted to be -- someone who was confident in his abilities and place in the world. In 2010 he published The Life That Matters, a novel with story elements drawn from Milton's Paradise Lost. It is about a man who has to choose between the lure of a glamorous new world and finding redemption with his family that he left behind. Rick owns commercial real estate and lives near the ocean in La Jolla, California.