FAIRHOPE, Ala. — “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Those words of wisdom spoken by actor Matthew Broderick in the film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” could just as easily have come from the mouth of 52-year-old writer Fred Garth. His latest novel, “A Good Day to Live,” harkens back to the days when growing up in coastal Alabama meant finding your own adventures along mostly unspoiled beaches — a time long before we all blinked and high-rise condominiums suddenly dotted the shoreline.

The book is about three 12-year-old best friends and the summers they spent together exploring the woods and waterways around Lost Bay (known to us as Perdido Bay) in south Baldwin County.

Danny, Will and Trout seem to have a knack for trouble. The boys follow their sometimes misguided sense of adventure in their ramshackle wooden boat, Greenie, powered by a 5.5 horsepower engine and adolescent adrenaline. Garth said the book mixes the idyllic lifestyle folks enjoyed back then with the full-throttle, bridge-jumping, gator-hunting escapades in which youngsters often indulged.

Page & Palette Bookstore, 32 S. Section St. in Fairhope, will host the author on April 24, from 2 until 4 p.m., where he will sign copies of the book.

Garth was born in Gainesville, Ga., and earned a bachelor’s degree in communication from Southern Oregon University (then Southern Oregon State College), where he worked for the college newspaper.

He gained additional newspaper experience at the Florence (Ala.) Times Daily, which he called “the best job for the lowest pay I’ve ever had.” While there, he covered Auburn University athletics and NASCAR, including the Winston 500 in Talladega.

Garth also spent several years in the magazine industry, writing for many publications individually as well as publications under the Gannett umbrella.

He’s currently editor-in-chief of Guy Harvey MAGAZINE, a quarterly focusing on conservation, fishing, boating, SCUBA and the outdoor lifestyle. Harvey is a marine biologist, conservationist and wildlife artist whose work hangs in many public and private collections, and has spawned a line of sportswear.

“Making the transition to a novel, I thought I’d have a leg up,” Garth said. “I experienced a lot of rejection letters from a lot of publishers though, so I decided to establish my own publishing company and do it myself. I’d published magazines before, so I knew it was a double-edged sword. I feel like I’m in pretty good company. John Grisham published his first book.”

Garth finished the first draft of “A Good Day to Live” in about six months, hired an editor, then completed the final work six months later.

“I’ve always enjoyed writing fiction,” Garth said. “My first novel was called ‘The Cure’ and it was a thriller. I just did it to see if I could do it.”

His current novel is no thriller, however, unless you count the boys’ fear of a certain house, but it has been a source of fond memories for both Garth and those who have read it so far. He said, “It was something that would tell the stories everyone talks about. This was a way to put them down on paper. It comes back to who you’re writing for. I’m writing for me. But, I want other people to enjoy it.”

Garth’s parents built a cabin on Perdido Bay in the mid-1950s, and would pick up him and his six siblings at noon on the last day of the school year and drive down from Gainesville.

“In the trunk they’d have seven grocery bags with our names on them, with a couple of swimsuits, a couple of T-shirts and a toothbrush,” he said. “A couple of days before school started, we’d go back to Gainesville and get our school supplies.”

The old summer house is still in the family. Garth lives across the state line on Perdido Key these days, and three of his brothers have also settled nearby. The first is a Mobile attorney, another is a retired teacher living in Lillian and the third is a Pensacola antique dealer.

If there’s a message to be found within the pages of “A Good Day to Live,” it’s that we should appreciate the simple things in life, whether young or old. But it’s more fun to be a child than to be an adult, after all, and maturity comes with a steep price tag.

The book is the first semi-autobiographical installment in a series based on the three main characters.

“The idea is to follow them as they grow up,” Garth said. The second book will take place four years later, he noted, and the third will portray them as young professional men in their 20s.

There is little conflict in this first installment by design. All three books parallel life, and the conflict (and life issues) will grow with each installment. Garth said, “The older you get, the more you have to deal with conflict.”

The first chapter of the second book is included in the final pages of the first. Garth expects it to be ready for release in about a year.

“I’m one of these guys who starts off and gets better as I write,” he said. “I view it as taking another step up the ladder.”

The writer is pleased with the outcome.

“I hope they will enjoy it,” Garth said. “It’s a happy book — a perfect escape from all the bad news we’re surrounded by today — all the murder and the economics and the political mess we’re inundated with. It’s a simpler time when people sat around and played cards. There was no Internet, cell phones and e-mail.”

Garth’s wife, Blair, is an artist. The couple has two daughters, Teal, 14, and Adia, 9. He is involved in a number of civic affairs, and his interests include water sports, snow skiing and technology.

Garth will exclusively sign all books purchased from Page & Palette.

For more information about the booksigning, call (251) 928-5295 or visit www.pageandpalette.com. To learn even more about the book, or to purchase it online, visit www.agooddaytolive.com.