An American Childhood. Annie Dillard. New York, New York: Harper & Row, 1988. 255 pp.
             There is little about the childhood of a girl from a somewhat wealthy home, growing up in Pittsburgh that would normally be thought of as interesting or original enough to be written about. In An American Childhood, Annie Dillard has not only explored this subject in detail, but actually managed to make it funny and insightful as well.
             An American Childhood features a number of essays about Dillard's childhood assembled loosely in chronological order. There is little of what one would typically expect to find in a book growing up; Dillard never confronts any concern over her popularity or grades and does not get caught up in any of the typical adventures of a child in a book of the same theme. Dillard's adventures occur mostly in the books she reads or the area of Pittsburgh immediately surrounding her home. One of her greatest "adventures" occurs in her own bedroom. Dillard, terrified of a monster she is convinced visits her bedroom every night, eventually defeats the monster by increasing her awareness of the world around her. Dillard describes lying petrified in her bed, scarcely breathing, because some "transparent, luminous oblong . . . with a head and a tail, like a Chinese dragon" (20) danced across the walls of her room. Later, in a beautifully constructed metaphor for childhood and awakening !
             to the truths of the world around her, Dillard discovers the entity she had been so afraid of was nothing but a car's headlights.
             Because Dillard's childhood was somewhat average and so many have experienced childhoods much like hers, she can easily connect with many of her readers simply by sharing common experiences. Even those from an entirely different background can find connections between themselves and Dillard because her writing is taken mostly from common childhood themes and experiences. Her stories often carry a theme ...