WILLIAM SAROYAN was one of America's major twentiethcentury writers. In his prize-winning play, "The Time of Your Life," and in his celebrated fictional works such as "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze," he displayed a fantastical imagination and irresistible charm that is still fresh and entertaining today.

The place is Ithaca, in California's SanJoaquinValley The time is World War II. The family is the Macauleys-a mother, sister,and three brothers whose struggles and dreams reflect those ot America's second-generation immigrants. In particular, four teen-year-old Homer, determined to become the fastest telegraph messenger in the West, finds himself caught between reality and illusion as delivering his messages of wartime death, love, and money brings him face-to-face with human emotion at its most naked and raw.

Gentle, poignant, and richly autobiographical, this delightful novel shows us the boy becoming the man in a world that even in the midst of war, appears sweeter, safer, and more livable than our own.

1. Ulysses

2. Homer

3. At the Telegraph Office

4. At Home

5. Mrs. Sandoval

6. Mr. Grogan

7. Mrs. Macaulr

8. Bess and Mary

9. The Veteran

10. The Ancient Ristory

11. The Human Nose

12. Miu Hie

13. Big Chrk

14. Dhma

15. Tho Girl on the Comer

17. Three 8oldiern

18. The Telegram

19. Alan

20. After the Movie

21. Valley Champion for Kids

22. The Holdup Man

23. The lqlghtme

24. The Apricot Tree

25. Mr. Aracauley

26. Mrsey

27. Lionel

28. At the PubHc Eibrary

29. At the Parlor Lecture Club

30. At the Bethel Roonm

31. Mr. Mechmlo

32. On the Train

33. Marcua

34. At the Church

35. The Lion in the Net

36. spaangler

37. Ithaca

38. The Honusehone Pitchers

39. The Home