Petals from Roseland, Kickstart this Book!

CJ Martello has been a friend of Lake Claremont Press, our Chicago imprint, almost since the beginning. A while back, he moved from the North Side and bought a home in Pullman and began writing a column for Fra Noi on his memories of growing up in nearby Roseland. Today he launched a Kickstarter campaign to publish a book collecting the best of 10 years of columns on Chicago's Roseland, Pullman, and Kensington neighborhoods that I will be helping him produce. Please check it out. (Rewards include walking tour tickets—he does some dressed as George Pullman, and his famous desserts—his baked goods have a reputation all their own!)

Visit the Kickstarter page or read more from CJ about the project below:

Help me Kickstart more Roseland memories by helping to fund the first printing of my book: Petals from Roseland: Fond Memories of Chicago's Roseland, Pullman, and Kensington Neighborhoods.

Due to my love of Roseland, I moved mountains! Well, not exactly mountains, but I did move my home from the North Side of Chicago to a house I bought in Pullman on the far South Side of the city.

Why am I so dedicated to Chicago's Roseland, Pullman, and Kensington neighborhoods? For the same reasons we all share: a love for Roseland and its neighboring communities in our hearts that has built up over the years, a fondness that only grows as we get older.

For more than ten years I’ve been writing the “Petals from Roseland” column for Fra Noi magazine. On a monthly basis I hear from Roselandites near and far who tell me how appreciative they are that I keep their Roseland memories alive. I’ve also heard from many that I should put these memories in a book. Chief among those pushing me to do a book was my late friend Ann Lavarda Ronzani.

After ten years, I’ve finally fulfilled Ann’s wish and the requests from all you other Roselandites: I’ve completed Petals from Roseland: Fond Memories of Chicago's Roseland, Pullman, and Kensington Neighborhoods, by CJ Martello.

There is enough nostalgia in my coming book to kickstart a host of stories that will become conversations for you and your friends and family. The lives we lived as youths don’t always come up in conversations with our kids and grandkids, but I can guarantee you this book will have you telling your kids stories they won’t believe!

So, sit back, consider the reward options I'm offering, and pick what works best for you. During the past few months, I’ve already heard from people that they’re ready and willing to order multiple copies. Please step up and join them and take this opportunity to reminisce and recharge your memory banks with some great Roseland nostalgia...

What Are You Funding?

The production and publication of the first 500+ copy printing of Petals from Roseland, a collection of my best columns on the past and present of our beloved Roseland, Pullman, and Kensington communities from the last 10 years, with the help of Sharon Woodhouse and Lake Claremont Press, a book publisher of 25 years that specializes in nonfiction books on the Chicago area and its history.