When he was five, his family moved to Estacada, Oregon when his father, Robert Edward Cody, was hired as the grade school principal there.
Cody graduated from Yale University, taught in the American School of Paris, France, and was the Dean of Admissions for Reed College.
[5] It deals with the lives of three high school students in the fictional small town of Calamus, Oregon in the 1960s.
[citation needed] The book has generated controversy because of what some considered to be "sexually explicit language" not appropriate for high school readers.
[7][8] In response to the criticisms, Cody and publisher Ooligan Press released a new version of the book without the controversial paragraphs.