Searching for Margie

What do you get when you raise a foster kid on teenage rebellion and union wages?

A rocket scientist.

Read A Sample Chapter
A young child on a porch holding a wide straw hat, photographed by Margery Lee McKeon

About the Author

Christopher John McKeon

Christopher John McKeon is a father, former NASA engineer, inventor, and the developer of video games you've likely used to ignore your own family. He wrote this book to explain his chaotic past to his two sons. He now realizes this was probably a huge mistake and that a simple "the stork brought me" would have been much easier on everyone. Sorry, boys.

In "Searching for Margie," Christopher shares his upbringing from age 7-21, culminating in a scavenger hunt search for his artistic biological mother, Margery Lee McKeon (who took the cover photo).

When he's not writing, Christopher enjoys watching his boys play sports, running ridiculously long distances, and perfecting the ultimate beer and pizza pairing. His goal with this book is simple: to figure out if he was the problem all along. (Spoiler: it's a tie)

What's in the Book?

For twenty years, Christopher John McKeon's past was a box of weird letters and pretty drawings from a mother he couldn't remember. He was fine with that. But when a call from Boston turns his life upside down, he finds himself on a scavenger hunt he never signed up for.

What follows is a funny, poignant, and deeply human quest to find a woman who is more myth than mother, and in the process, to discover that sometimes the family you find is just as important as the one you were born into.

Table of contents

  1. Chapter 1: The Overhead Bin of Destiny

    An impromptu flight with no RSVP

  2. Chapter 2: No Paperwork, No Problem

    Shuffling from family to family is easy

  3. Chapter 3: Pit Stop

    OK, maybe not so easy

  4. Chapter 4: You Can Get More, You Know

    I was wrong it is easy, it just costs money

  5. Chapter 5: Elvis and Granny

    Granny has a plan

  6. Chapter 6: The Hand-Off at Jim's

    Chicken fried steak is not optional

  7. Chapter 7: The School of Poodles

    Featuring four furry fuzz-balls

  8. Chapter 8: The First Letter

    Not an invitation to Hogwarts

  9. Chapter 9: Learning the Rules

    Time for school

  10. Chapter 10: Building a Wall of Gold

    No posters on this kid's wall

  11. Chapter 11: The Lady's Face (Second Letter)

    Still not an invite to Hogwarts

  12. Chapter 12: The Case Worker

    A Boston accent arrives

  13. Chapter 13: Flight to Boston

    Flight number 2, this time with RSVPs

  14. And Many More Chapters

Ready to Read?

Are you considering adopting a child, were you adopted, did you give up a child for adoption, or were you once a child? Then this heartwarming book is for you.

This sample is the first few chapters of "Searching for Margie" covering Christopher's impromptu travel from Boston to Texas.

Read A Sample Chapter

When this book is published, proceeds will be donated to charities benefitting child advocacy groups, such as CASA (Christopher is a CASA), and those supporting the homeless, like Women's Lunch Place in Boston (a charity that was inspired by Margie and one she frequently enjoyed).

A pen drawing of three birds, signed M. McKeon