When Arthur Dale Likens was growing up, he knew his family was poor.

The Likens-Stevenson family lived in a dilapidated house in the Five Points area of Hartford along Yankee Creek. The house had no electricity or indoor bathroom, and his mother wrapped his lunches in newspaper.

But Likens and his two brothers, two sisters and three stepbrothers had a great childhood filled with love, fun, great people, a good education and lessons on the proper work ethic. In that way, his family was very rich.

“Material things are immaterial,” said Likens, promoting the novel based on his childhood, “Our Mansion on Anglin’ Road.”

“It’s what you want to do with your life” that’s important, he said.

The Sharon native and former Brookfield resident noted that he, two sisters and a brother went on to become teachers, a brother entered the ministry, and another brother became a reporter.

“Every one of us went on to do something I consider important and valuable in life,” said Likens, 68, of McDonough, Ga.

Likens wanted to put these valuable lessons into “Our Mansion on Anglin’ Road.”

The novel was 40 years in the making. A public school language arts teacher, Likens would write chapters and review them with his students to underscore lessons on character, similes and metaphors, and others elements of writing.

One of those chapters — about the snowstorm of 1950 — was published in Reminisce magazine several years ago.

The 244-page book also honors his brother Gene, who had muscular dystrophy, lived much of his life in a wheelchair and died at age 24. Gene never complained about his fate, helped Likens learn how to lead a moral life, and gave him a “better understanding of life,” Likens said.

“He had such a positive impact on my life,” Likens said. “He sat in that wheelchair most of his life that I remember, but he had such a positive attitude. It was just unreal. I made a vow I would honor him in some way in the book.”

Gene is the hero of the book, Likens said.

Although 70 percent of the book is true, it’s not an autobiography or a memoir. Likens said he wanted the story to have a plot, a hero and a villain.

“The characters are all real, but I put them in there in positions they wouldn’t normally be in, and they said things they wouldn’t normally say,” said Likens, who taught grades 4 through 6 at Badger and Howland schools before heading south.