THE FIRESIDE POET OF MAINE by John William Babin | Arcadia Publishing | 144 pages |$21.99

My Lost Youth is a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in which he describes his days growing up in Portland, in the town “seated by the sea.” Although many people have read or at least have heard of the poem, few know the actual story of his childhood in Portland. A new book by Maine Historical Society employee and Portland native John William Babin has gone a long way to rectify this oversight.