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Bibliography of Books by George Ella Lyon |
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See also:
AppLit Lesson Plan on Mama is a Miner
An Interview with George Ella Lyon and Richard Jackson
George Ella Lyon, Poet and Writer. The author's official web site, with information on available and forthcoming titles, background on the author, and photos.
Picture
Books (in reverse chronological order):
My Friend, the Starfinder. Illus. Stephen Gammell. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2008. (9781416927389)
A little girl listens to her old neighbor's story of following a falling star when he was a boy.
Trucks Roll! Illus. Craig Frazier. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2007. (9781416924357)
A day in a trucker's life with verses about things trucks bring to us.
No Dessert Forever! Illus. Peter Catalanotto. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2006 (1-4169-0385-2, 978-1-4169-0385-7 ).
A little girl's doll helps her work out her frustrations and fantasies in the wake of a difficult family incident.
Weaving the Rainbow. Illus.
Stephanie Anderson. Atheneum, 2004. (0-6898-5169-3).
Explains the process a textile artist uses to gather wool from her own sheep
A Mother to Tigers. Illus. Peter Catalanotto. Simon & Schuster, 2003. (0-6898-4221-X).
The story of Helen Martini, founder of the Bronx Zoo's animal nursery in 1944, and its first female zookeeper.
One Lucky Girl. Illus. Irene Trivas. DK Ink, Spring 2000. (0-7894-2613-7). Winner, Kentucky Bluegrass Award.
A gripping true story is retold in the voice of a boy who finds his baby sister after a tornado tears apart their trailer home.
Book. Illus. Peter Catalanotto.
DK Ink, 1999 (0-7894-2560-2).
A poem about the adventure of exploring books, comparing them to a house, a treasure chest, a farm "sown with words," and leaves for the tree of life. Words from the poem swirl around Catalanotto's magical watercolor illustrations that follow a young girl's explorations of images that blend realism and fantasy. The text of this poem is reprinted as an introductory selection in Crosscurrents of Children's Literature: An Anthology of Texts and Criticism (Ed. J. D. Stahl, Tina L. Hanlon and Elizabeth Lennox Keyser. New York: Oxford UP, 2006).
A Sign. Illus. Chris Soentpiet. Orchard, 1998 (0-531-30073-0).
A writer tells how she thought of different exciting careers before she discovered that she was meant to "make words glow." Based on Lyon's childhood fascination with neon signs and her neighbor who made them. Bright watercolors depict the child's world in the mid-20th century, including her letter to the President after her school watches the beginning of space travel.
Counting on the Woods.
Illus. Ann Olson. DK Ink, 1998 (0-7894-2480-0).
Poetic lines and photographs combine counting with appreciation for natural objects observed by a child in the eastern Kentucky woods.
A Traveling Cat. Illus. Paul Brett Johnson. Orchard, 1998 (0-531-30102-8).
"Boulevard was a traveling cat. We named her after the road." A girl tells fondly and sadly of the cat's travels in and out of her small-town family's life in the 1950s. The cat leaves them with one kitten who doesn't travel.
Ada's Pal. Illus. Marguerite Casparian. Orchard, 1996 (0-531-09528-2).
A story about the friendship between two dogs, Ada and Troublesome, and between Ada and a girl who knows what to do when the dog's pal dies.
A Day at Damp Camp. Illus. Peter Catalanotto. Orchard, 1996 (0-531-09504-5).
Pairs of rhyming words describe an active day at a girls' camp. Colorful watercolors layered on top of each other illustrate the busy day.
Mama Is a Miner. Illus. Peter Catalanotto. Orchard, 1994 (0-531-06853-6). Lesson Plan by Brenda Muse.
A young girl describes her mother's hard work in the mine and her worries about her mother, with loving thoughts of her mother "digging for home" at the end of the day. Warm watercolors alternate between scenes in the mine and family scenes when Mama is home.
Five Live Bongos. Illus. Jacqueline Rogers. Scholastic, 1994 (0-590-46654-2) o.p.; school-ed. paper (0-590-46655-0).
Five brothers and sisters drive their parents crazy with home-made musical instruments.
Dreamplace. Illus. Peter Catalanotto. Orchard, 1993 (0-531-07171- 4).
A poem about tourists visiting a Pueblo city, learning about the lives of Anasazi people, who left because of drought hundreds of years earlier. Watercolors in earth tones fade in and out of scenes of the past imagined by a modern child. Sunset scenes symbolize the end of life in the dreamlike city.
Who Came Down That Road? Illus. Peter Catalanotto. Orchard, 1992 (0-531-07073-5).
When a child asks his mother the title question, she tells him of people and animals who traveled the road back into prehistoric times.
Cecil's Story. Illus. Peter Catalanotto. Orchard, 1991 (0-531-05912-X); paper (0-531-07063-8). Lesson Plan at TeacherVision.com.
The second-person poetic text follows a boy imagining how he'll have to struggle on the farm if his father goes off to the Civil War and his mother goes to tend his wounds, but Cecil is reassured that his father's strength and affection remain even if he returns with one arm.
The Outside Inn. Illus. Vera Rosenberry. Orchard, 1991; paper, 1997 (0-531-07086-7).
Children by a pond imagine squirmy, buggy meals for their make-believe restaurant and leave treats for all kinds of insects.
Come a Tide. A Reading Rainbow book. Illus. Stephen Gammell. Orchard, 1990 (0-531-05854-9); paper (0-531-07036-0).
The first-person poetic text tells of surviving a spring flood in the mountains. Grandma provides cozy shelter during the rains and then the families dig out their flooded homes. Gammell's colorful watercolor and colored pencil drawings depict with humor and warmth an array of humans and animals, floating, dripping, and coping. Video clip and teacher's guide available at New Hampshire Public TV Reading Rainbow web site.
Basket. Illus. Mary Szilagyi. Orchard, 1990 (0-531-05886-7). Winner, Kentucky Bluegrass Award.
A heart-warming story about the many uses of a grandmother's oak egg basket. She loses it when she moves and thinks she left important things in it, but after her death her granddaughter finds the basket with only one spool in it. She cherishes the basket that reminds her of her grandmother's familiar rhymes and ways. Includes a song about a spool of thread.
A B Cedar: An Alphabet of Trees. Illus. Tom Parker. 1989. Orchard, paper, 1996 (0-531-07080-8).
Tree names from A to Z are illustrated with silhouettes of the full tree and colored india ink drawings of hands with leaves, berries, and nuts.
Together. Illus. Vera Rosenberry.
Orchard, 1989; paper (0-531-07047-6).
Two girls of different races celebrate their friendship in lively rhymes and pictures.
A Regular Rolling Noah. Illus. Stephen Gammell. 1986. Aladdin, paper (0-689-71449-1), o.p.
Noah Gabbard from Pathford, KY tells about taking his first train ride to tend the neighbors' animals in a boxcar when they move to flat land in Canada. After he rides home in style, he intends to tell folks, "Be glad you have these mountains to call home." Lively, colorful watercolors emphasize Noah's friendly relations with hoboes and animals, and the changing colors of the sky.
Father Time and the Day Boxes. Illus. Robert Andrew Parker. 1985. Aladdin, paper (0-689-71792-X); o.p., available from the author.
Father Time tosses down a packet for each day from his vault in the clouds.
Don't You Remember? Motes Books, 2007 (0-9778745-6-7). A fascinating memoir based on a mysterious childhood experience and the adult journey it initiated.
A Wordful Child. Photos
Ann Olson. Richard Owen Meet-the-Author Series, 1996 (1-57274-016-7).
An autobiography for children tells of Lyon's life history, family life, and work as a writer. Illustrations from some of her books accompany insights on people and events that inspired them.
Where I'm From/Where Poems Come From. Illus. Robert Hoskins. Writers' & Young Writers' Series #2. Absey Press. Fall 1999 (1-888842-12-1)
Sonny's House of Spies. New York: Atheneum, 2004 (0-689-85168-5)
A novel for grades 6 and up, about a thirteen-year-old boy in Alabama in the 1950s
Gina. Jamie. Father. Bear. New York: Atheneum/Richard Jackson, 2002 (0-689-84370-4). See Folklore Themes in Longer Appalachian Fiction.
Borrowed Children. Bantam. paper (0-553-28380-4). Winner, Golden Kite Award. Rpt. Univ. Press of KY, 1999.
A twelve-year-old girl, who has to leave school to care for her baby brother and sick mother, discovers links between her mother's childhood and her own during a visit with other relatives. See page on this book with cover, at Univ. Press of KY.
Stranger I Left Behind Me. Troll p.b., 1997 (0-8167-4026-7). Originally published as Red Rover, Red Rover. Orchard, 1989. o.p.
Here and Then. Orchard, 1994 (0-531-06866-8); Troll, p.b., 1997 (0-8167-4207-3).
In this time-travel novel, a twelve-year-old girl in a Civil War re-enactment helps a nurse during the war.
For
Adults:
Mountain. poems (Hartford, CT: Andrew Mountain Press, 1983), o.p.
Catalpa. poems. Lexington, KY: Wind Publications, 1993. (0-9636545-2-7). Winner, Appalachian Writers Association Book of the Year. See cover and description by publisher.
2nd ed. with Introduction by Robert West, 2007. (9781893239586)
Choices: Stories for Adult New Readers. Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1989 (0-8131-0900-0). See page on this book with cover, at Univ. Press of KY.
With a Hammer for My Heart.
paperback. Kentucky Voices Series. Univ. Press of Kentucky, 2007. (9780813191751)
New cover at right.
With a Hammer for My Heart. paperback, Avon/Bard, Spring 1999 (0-380-73217-3).
With a Hammer for My Heart. novel. DK Ink, fall 1997 (0-7894-2460-6).
A powerful novel about Lawanda Ingles, a 15-year-old Cardin, Kentucky girl who sells magazines to earn money for college. She makes friends with a Amos Garland, a reclusive alcoholic who has made a home in two abandoned school buses since he was traumatized years earlier by wartime service. When his journals are exposed and misinterpreted, Garland is jailed. Lawanda is horribly injured in her father's angry act of revenge. Her fight to help Garland involves his estranged adult daughter and Lawanda's grandmother Mamaw, a healer who was banned by her church for telling of visions in which she saw God as a woman. Multiple first-person narratives tell this story of love that is sometimes misguided and redemption that triumphs over pain. See short review at Books about Awakenings (Favorite Teenage Angst Books, Grouchy.com).
A Kentucky Christmas. Univ.
Press of Kentucky, 2003. 416 pp. (0-8131-2279-1).
"A celebration of holiday poetry, fiction, essays, recipes, and songs by more than sixty of the Bluegrass state’s finest writers. Gathered here are writings from some of the legendary voices of Kentucky—and the nation—as well as original Christmas stories and poetry from some of the state’s emerging talents" (from description at Univ. Press of KY page on this book, where contributors are listed, review excerpts are given, and cover is shown).
Crossing Troublesome: Twenty-five Years of the Appalachian Writers Workshop. Co-edited with Leatha Kendrick. Lexington, KY: Wind Publications, 2002. See description, cover, note from the editors, and book excerpts at Wind web site. Reviewed by Jane Hicks in Appalachian Heritage, Summer 2003.
Old Wounds, New Words: Poems from the Appalachian Poetry Project. Co-edited with Bob Henry Baber and Gurney Norman. Ashland, Kentucky: Jesse Stuart Foundation, 1994 (0- 945084-44-7).
A Gathering at the Forks: Fifteen Years of the Hindman Settlement School Appalachian Writers Workshop. Co-edited with Jim Wayne Miller and Gurney Norman. Wise, Virginia: Vision Books, 1993. Available from Hindman Settlement School, Hindman KY 41822; (606) 785-5485.
Contributions in Other Books, Periodicals, and Other Media.
The American Voice: Anthology of Poetry. Edited by Frederick Smock. Univ. Press of KY, 1998.
Appalachia Inside Out: A Sequel to Voices from the Hills. Edited by Robert J. Higgs, et al. Knoxville: Tennessee UP, 1995. Contains poems by Lyon: "Progress." Vol. I, 194-95. "The Foot Washing." Vol. II, 406-7; "Salvation," 410.
Appalachian Journal. See the journal's summary of back issues at this link to find poems by Lyon published in the journal.
"Appalachian Women Poets: Breaking the Double Silence." American Voice, vol. 8 (Fall 1987): pp. 62-72.
Bloodroot: Reflections on Place by Appalachian Women Writers. Edited by Joyce Dyer. Univ. Press of KY, 1998. Includes "Voiceplace" by Lyon.
"Book." Poem in Crosscurrents of Children's Literature: An Anthology of Texts and Criticism. Ed. J. D. Stahl, Tina L. Hanlon and Elizabeth Lennox Keyser. New York: Oxford UP, 2006.
"Contemporary Appalachian Poetry: Sources and Directions." The Kentucky Review, vol. 2:2 (1981): pp. 3-22.
"Contemporary Appalachian Poetry: Sources and Directions." In Harris, Marie (ed.); and Aguero, Kathleen (ed.). A Gift of Tongues: Critical Challenges in Contemporary American Poetry. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1987. pp. 307-320.
"Digging for Home." Horn Book Magazine, vol. 82 (May/June 2006): pp. 355-357. Article that discusses "working in the picture book mine" when she and Peter Catalanotto worked on Mama is a Miner. Her song "In the Picture Book Mine" appears with musical score in the Horn Book web site at http://www.hbook.com/pdf/picturebookmine.pdf.
Ellis, Ron, ed. Of Woods and Waters: A Kentucky Outdoors Reader. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2005. Essays, poems, and fiction from 1889-2005, including an excerpt from Gina. Jamie. Father. Bear. by George Ella Lyon, an excerpt from "The Adventures of Col. Daniel Boon," "Our Wiff and Daniel Boone" by Jesse Stuart," poems "Hunter" and "Mountain Fox Hunt" by James Still, selections by Wendell Barry, Harry Caudill, Jim Wayne Miller, and many others..
"False Carrot." Horn Book Magazine, vol. 81 (March/April 2005): pp. 141-44. Article on writing with gardening analogies and examples from the process of writing With a Hammer for My Heart and Here and Then.
"Good." 2000. Poem published online by Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative.
Her Words: Diverse Voices in Contemporary Appalachian Women's Poetry. Ed. Felicia Mitchell. Knoxville: Univ. of TN Press, 2002. Includes poems "Archaeology" and "Papaw," p. 165. Followed by essay by Roberta Herrin, "From Poetry to Picture Books: The Words of George Ella Lyon." pp. 166-76.
"James Still's Place in Appalachian Letters." 1997. Reprinted at BookClub@KET to accompany KY Educational Television programs on James Still.
James Still’s River of Earth: Portrait of a Kentucky Poet. Downloadable study guide by George Ella Lyon for documentary film (1997) by Kentucky Educational Television, for Reading/Writing curriculum for grades 7-adult. Biography by George Ella Lyon and photograph also at this KET link.
"Just a Mountain." Song with words and music, vocals and guitar by George Ella Lyon, keyboard by Steve Lyon. On Songs for the Mountaintop. CD with 12 songs by different artists in protest of mountaintop removal. Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. 2006.
Kentucky, Land of Tomorrow. Edited by Thomas H. Appleton, Melba Porter Hay, James C. Klotter, and Thomas E. Stephens. Univ. Press of KY, 2001. A book on the history and beauty of the state. The publisher's page at this link contains an excerpt of poetry by Lyon.
Listen Here: Women Writing in Appalachia. Edited by Sandra L. Ballard and Patricia L. Hudson. Univ. Press of KY, 2003. Pp. 364-73 contain scene from With a Hammer for My Heart (introduction to Mamaw) and poems "Where I'm From," "Rings," "Salvation," "Growing Light." A biography and list of primary and secondary sources are given for each of the 105 authors in this anthology. See Thematic Table of Contents for Listen Here in AppLit.
"The Poet's Job" and "An Appalachian Relic: Notes on 'Swarp'" and poem "Stripped." Appalachian Journal, vol. 8 (Spring 1981).
"Red Shoes." Poem in Horn Book Magazine vol. 81 (May/June 2005): p. 269.
Review of Counting the Sums by Rita Quillen and Alchemy by Dana Wildsmith. Appalachian Journal, vol. 13 (Spring 1986).
Review of Growing Up Hard in Harlan County by G. C. Jones. Appalachian Journal, vol. 24 (Fall 1996).
Review of Stories I Ain't Told Nobody Yet: Selections from the People Pieces by Jo Carson. Appalachian Journal, vol. 17 (Fall 1989).
"The Right to a Voice." Appalachian Journal, vol. 30 (Winter-Spring 2003).
Shiloh and Other Stories by Bobbie Ann Mason. Lyon wrote the Foreword.
"Stripped." Poem in Appalachian Journal, vol. 8 (Spring 1981).
United States of Poetry. PBS, 1996. Review by James S. Torrens of this five-part TV series mentions Lyon's reading. America 10 Feb 1996: p. 25. Review accessed online 12/16/03 through Academic Index ASAP.
"Where I'm From." Poem reprinted at Local Learning: Poetry and Sense of Place. Lesson plan with Lyon's poem from Summer 2000 Louisiana Voices Institute.
"Where I'm From," audio and print versions of poem, with discussion, in the author's web site George Ella Lyon, Poet and Writer.
Links and Background Resources:
Asher, Suzanne. George Ella Lyon. 1997. Essay at KYLIT.
Bishop, Rudine Sims. "Profile: George Ella Lyon." Language Arts, vol. 67 (Oct 1990): pp. 611+. Interview.
Black, Crystal. Page on George Ella Lyon by Virginia Tech Student.
BookClub@KET. Dec. 2004. Hour-long program on Kentucky Educational TV about A Kentucky Christmas, available for watching on the web site with video readings, other background material and links. Lyon was on the program with a group of writers and musicians.
Canada. Collaborative Middle School Teaching Unit, using Who Came Down that Road as a model in creating timeline for Canada. Library Media Services. Lincoln Public Schools, Lincoln, Nebraska (link can't be found 12/16/03).
An Electronic Conversation with George Ella Lyon. Video available through KET, first aired May 1997 as a live seminar.
George Ella Lyon, Poet and Writer. The author's official web site, with information on available and forthcoming titles, background on the author, and photos. Includes audio and print versions of poem "Where I'm From," with discussion.
"George Ella Lyon." Contemporary Authors Online. The Gale Group, 2001.
"George Ella Lyon." Contemporary Southern Writers. St. James Press, 1999. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2004. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC. Available online through Galenet library services.
"George Ella Lyon." Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults. 2nd ed., 8 vols. Gale Group, 2002. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2004. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC. Available online through Galenet library services. Describes a number of Lyon's books with quotations from Lyon and reviewers, including her comment on Nancy's Willard's influential observations about the similarity between poetry and picture books. Lists many periodical reviews on Lyon's books.
"George Ella Lyon." Something About the Author, vol. 68. Detroit: Gale, 1992.
George Ella Lyon, Kentucky Author by Jan Ross, Library Media Specialist, Dixie Elementary Magnet School, Lexington, KY. Fourth-grade lesson plan with power point slide show about Lyon's life and work.
George Ella Lyon web page at Wind Publications web site (with photo, background, and letter from the author to young readers, but booklist is not as up-to-date as this one). Also a page on Catalpa and Crossing Troublesome in this site.
George Ella Lyon, Lawandas Leben. Essay in German on German edition of With a Hammer for My Heart.
Hague, Richard. "George Ella Lyon Has A Vision of Jim Wayne Miller in Heaven." Poem in Appalachian Journal, vol. 29 (Spring 2002).
Herrin, Roberta. "From Poetry to Picture Books: The Words of George Ella Lyon." In Her Words: Diverse Voices in Contemporary Appalachian Women's Poetry. Ed. Felicia Mitchell. Knoxville: Univ. of TN Press, 2002. pp. 166-76. Also includes Lyon's poems "Archaeology" and "Papaw," p. 165.
Hurst, Carol. A Timeline Activity with Children's Books. Includes recommendation of Cecil's Story. Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site.
"I'm From." Poem about Mexico by Olivia S., Denver, CO, inspired by Lyon's "Where I'm From," at TeenInk.com.
Kentucky Bluegrass Award. List at Winner's Circle link includes award for One Lucky Girl, in K-2 division, 2002, and Basket in K-3 division, 1993. Kentucky Reading Association.
Lang, John, ed. George Ella Lyon Issue. Iron Mountain Review, vol. 10 (Summer 1994).
Local Learning: Poetry and Sense of Place. Lesson plan with a copy of Lyon's poem "Where I'm From," from Summer 2000 Louisiana Voices Institute.
"Lyon, George Ella." Entry by Harriette C. Buchanan in Encyclopedia of Appalachia. Ed. Rudy Abramson and Jean Haskell. Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2006. pp. 1070-71. There is also discussion and an illustration from Mama is a Miner in the entry "Children's Literature" by Roberta Herrin, p. 1053.
McKernan, Llewellyn. Review of Dreamplace, Who Came Down That Road?, The Outside Inn, Cecil's Story, Basket, Come A Tide, Together, and A B Cedar: An Alphabet of Trees. Appalachian Journal, vol. 21 (Winter 1994).
McKernan, Llewellyn. Review of Father Time and the Day Boxes, A Regular Rolling Noah, Borrowed Children. Appalachian Journal, vol. 15 (Summer 1988).
Miller, Jim Wayne. "A Heart Leafed with Words Like a Tree: The Poetry of George Ella Lyon." Iron Mountain Review, vol. 10 (Summer 1994). pp. 6-8.
Muse, Brenda. Lesson Plan on Mama is a Miner in AppLit.
Mystery of the Making Place. George Ella Lyon: Writer in Residence, 2001. Shepherd College, WV. Web site by Sarah Alouf with a variety of resources by and about Lyon.
Newton, Joanna Barnes. Review of With a Hammer for My Heart. Appalachian Journal, vol. 25 (Summer 1998).
Reading Rainbow: Come a Tide. Activity suggestion for Come a Tide. Summary of book: "This delightful book tells the story of one quirky family's adventure during a spring flood."
Roberts, Tracy L. and George Ella Lyon. "An Interview with George Ella Lyon." Spring 2001. In AppLit Articles section. Presented at Children's Literature Association Conference, Buffalo, June 2001.
Stan, Susan. Review of Come a Tide. The Five Owls May-June 1995, p. 95.
Strassman, Barbara K. "What You Know by Heart: How to Develop Curriculum for Your Writing Workshop." Review of book with this title by Katie Wood Ray. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 47 (Sept. 2003): pp.102+. Review discusses how Ray uses Lyon's Cecil's Story.
Talbott, Michelle Justus. Southern Writer: George Ella Lyon. Essay. Buchanan Public Library, VA.
Teacher to Teacher: Trade Book Teaching Ideas from the OLRC Reading Group: "Choices." Ohio Literacy Resource Center. Kent State Univ., OH.
Thurman, Susan (Henderson College, Kentucky). Literary Kentucky from A to Z includes notes on Lyon. In U. S. Literary Map Project. American Literature Resources. Masterpiece Theatre's American Collection Educator's Site.
Visiting Author.com, with pictures and review excerpts on Lyon's books.
West, Robert (Wake Forest Univ.). “George Ella Lyon’s Catalpa.” South Atlantic Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Birmingham, Alabama, November 2000.
Worthington, Marianne. "'Pleasure Out of Telling': Voice Poems in George Ella Lyon's Fiction for Adults." Appalachian Journal, vol. 32 (Fall 2004).
Young, Cathy. Books about Awakenings. Favorite Teenage Angst Books at Grouchy.com. Short review of With a Hammer for My Heart.
