This book explores the representations of childhood in 12 works of fiction and two films. Tierney-Tello (Wheaton College) studies notions of gender, geography, memory, and nation making, connecting these themes to construction and deconstruction of different aspects of Peruvian society. She argues that narratives of coming of age in Peru allow the reimaging of childhood not only to offer personal pasts but also as a national subject to propose nationwide identity and collective cultural memory as a problematic fractured process inside of a multicultural and multiethnic, disrupted society. The author analyzes accounts of childhood that speak about historical, social, and political difficulties revealing inequality, racism, sexual prejudice, and profound cultural divisions in Peru. For Tierney-Tello, childhood fictional narratives offer a unique multiplicity of perspectives and insights on the past, present, and future of the national historical discourse. The author builds on Benedict Anderson's perspectives on nation forming processes and Antonio Cornejo Polar’s point of view on fictional migrant subjectivity in Peru. This book will probably be of greatest interest to scholars of the bildungsroman genre in Peru over the last century. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.