by
Tina
L. Hanlon
2006-2008
| Background and Quotations | Books for Children | Other Works About Children | |
| Topics for Teaching and Discussion | Topics in Poems | References and Links | |
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James Still (1906-2001) was Kentucky's Poet Laureate from 1995 to 1997. After growing up in Alabama and going away for college and graduate school, he went to eastern Kentucky in 1931 to help Don and Connie West with some summer programs for children. He then accepted a job as librarian at Hindman Settlement School, with no salary at first, and remained associated with Hindman for the rest of his life, although he held some teaching positions elsewhere and traveled widely. He lived in the same region of Knott County, Kentucky for the rest of his life, writing in his log house in the woods and enjoying the life of the rural community. He always strove to improve the lives of children and the community by providing good books for them. He believed that children needed to read well and experience high quality literature, not just school textbooks. His autobiographical essays describe his process of telling the smaller children oral stories and reading to the older ones, encouraging them to select books they liked from the library.
Quotations by and about James Still:
"One day, when I was hoeing cotton, my sister Inez began to tell a story from the next row—a true story, I thought. It continued for hours as our hoes chopped and pushed and rang against stones. Then I learned that her story was a fabrication. She had created it while she was working. From that moment my horizon expanded into the imaginary. I could make my own tales and did. Oral ones." (James Still, autobiographical essay "A Man Singing to Himself," in From the Mountain 7. Still was ages 6-7 in this section.)
On working at the Hindman Settlement School library in the 1930s: “Aware that the many one-room schools in the county were without access to a library, I began spending one day a week—my own undertaking—walking from school to school with a carton of children's books on my shoulder; I would change the collections in these schools every two weeks. … Often as I approached a school I would hear the cry, ‘Here comes the book boy’” (James Still, From the Mountain 17).
“I don’t write for children—children alone. My so-called ‘children’s’ books are for all ages, and I have knowledge adults are reading them. If children find books of mine they can and will read, I could not be more pleased. I’m not writing for any particular age group.” (James Still, “Interview” 124)
George Ella Lyon commented on the day after Still died in 2001, "He had a perfect ear. He could convey so much of character and place without using the sort of dialect that's graphically depicted. He did it in the rhythm, the word choice and the metaphors; not by using apostrophes and strange spellings.... The beauty of his language and the fact that he wrote in so many genres was really a model for me." (qtd. in Egerton).
On Still's retelling of the oral tale Jack and the Bean Tree: Still’s “printed page has captured that oral spell.” He is “a troubadour with such a fine ear for the music of the tradition and the language of the people and their tales.” (Briley, Summer 75).
An Appalachian Mother Goose. Illus. Paul Bret Johnson. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 1998. Selected rhymes and two illustrations reprinted 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.
See AppLit's Introduction to An Appalachian Mother Goose.
Jack and the Wonder Beans. Illus. Margot Tomes. 1977. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 1996. N. pag.
See page on Jack and the Bean Tree in AppLit's Annotated Index of Appalachian Folktales.
Adapted by Larry E. Snipes as a musical play in the 1990s, with lyrics by Mark Noderer and Vivian Robin Snipes
Rusties and Riddles & Gee-Haw Whimmy-Diddles. Illus. Janet McCaffery. Lexington, KY: UP of Kentucky, 1989. N. pag.
Reprint of combined volumes Way Down Yonder on Troublesome Creek and The Wolfpen Rusties
McCaffery's black and white woodcuts from the original editions, on every double-page spread, add to the fun of the rhymes with a variety of shapes and page designs.
For video images of homemade gee-haw whimmy diddles and other traditional toys, with discussion and stories by the Hicks family on Beech Mountain, NC, see the film Appalachian Journey by Alan Lomax (video streaming video available free at Folkstreams.net with background materials).
Sporty Creek. 1977. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 1999.
This is Still's second and last novel, published in 1977 with the subtitle A Novel about an Appalachian Boyhood.
The narrator is an unnamed ten-year-old boy who is the cousin of the narrator of River of Earth (see below).
The novel has an episodic structure with ten chapters that deal with different events in the life of the boy and his family during the Great Depression.
Seven of the ten chapters were based on short stories that were published in magazines and books beginning in1939.
"The Ploughing," a 1939 story in which the boy asks Uncle Jolly to teach him how to plow, became an episode in River of Earth and then reappeared as "Simon Brawl," the first chapter of Sporty Creek. See list of other short stories below.
Way Down Yonder on Troublesome Creek: Appalachian Riddles and Rusties. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1974.
Includes over 80 riddles with the answers written upside down, one riddle in the shape of a snail, one mnemonic for learning to spell geography, several nonsense rhymes, two pieces that focus on place names of Kentucky, and a verse at the end guarding against loss of the book
One of the rhyming riddles on Kentucky place names appears as the poem "Post Offices" in From the Mountain, From the Valley, p. 55.
The introduction describes folklife in the past on Troublesome Creek, observing that in addition to telling stories at home, people, "sprung riddles and pulled rusties".
The introduction explains that rusties were “turns of wit, tricks of words, or common pranks.”
The Wolfpen Rusties: Appalachian Riddles and Gee-Haw Whimmy-Diddles. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1975.
Includes at least four poems that are also published elsewhere: On Wolfpen Creek" and "Apple Trip" celebrate natural wonders; "Granny Race" and "Dance on Pushback" are humorous poems about mountain life
Also includes a number of nonsense verses, over 40 riddles, and a verse at the end warning against theft of the book
The introduction describes the history of the region and folklife around Wolfpen Creek in the past.
The introduction defines gee-haw whimmy-diddle as a “toy whittled from the prong of a tree limb” or “anything of small worth.”
River of Earth. 1940. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 1996.
Still's highly acclaimed novel is narrated by a boy who is ages 7-10 during the story. His cousin is the narrator of Sporty Creek (see above).
Uncle Jolly is the main character who appears in both novels. See notes above and below on Sporty Creek.
Many of Still's short stories overlap with the episodes of River of Earth and Sporty Creek, or focus on other child characters. Examples of the latter:
“Mrs. Razor” (1945), in which a six-year-old girl is described by her brother. He likes to pretend he is different characters, but she is fixated on the belief that she is married to a no-good husband named just Razor; when she says he has died, she insists her family must rescue her children before gypsies get them. Biggety Creek is a fantastical place that figures in their father's family sermonizing and the Elvy's fantasy about her widowhood and children.
“The Nest” (1948), about a child of six who gets lost outdoors in snowy weather when sent off by herself to stay overnight with her aunt.
Short stories that became chapters in Sporty Creek, 1977:
"The Ploughing," 1939, became "Simon Brawl"
"School Butter," 1946
"I Love My Rooster," 1940, became "Low Glory"
"The Moving," 1940-41
"Locust Summer," 1941
"The Burning of the Waters," 1956, became "Tight Hollow"
"Journey to the Forks," 1941
Poems in From the Mountain, From the Valley: New and Collected Poems. Ed. Ted Olson. Lexington, UP of Kentucky, 2001:
"Shield of Hills," about the death of a child
"Child in the Hills"
With Hands Like Leaves" contains the lines "A child walks here with hand like leaves, with eyes/ Like swifts...."
"I Shall Go Singing" mentions "the child in me"
"A Child's Wisdom," contrasting a child's and man's views of the land
"Could It "Be," short poem about babies smiling when angels tickle their toes.
"Those I Want in Heaven with Me Should There Be Such a Place," a famous 1991 poem that focuses on memories of childhood, including the speaker's dog Jack.
"Swift Were Their Feet," about a father watching children grow up
1. Compare Still's nursery rhymes and riddles with rhymes and riddles that you know, or compare with rhymes and riddles in other collections. Where do regional details appear in Still's rhymes and riddles? Are there more or less magic and nonsense in Still's rhymes than in European nursery rhymes? For examples and background notes on English nursery rhymes, see the following.
Opie, Peter and Iona, eds. I Saw Esau: The Schoolchild’s Pocket Book. Illus. Maurice Sendak. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 1992.
Opie, Peter and Iona, eds. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1997.
2. How do Still's books of folklore blend realistic and practical issues with fantasy and nonsense?
3. Compare Jack and the Wonder Beans with other Jack tales. See AppLit bibliography Jack and the Bean Tree.
Is Jack lazy or foolish in Still's book as he is in some versions of this tale and other Jack tales?
How do Jack's rewards at the end compare with those in other versions of the tale?
Why did Still call Jack and the Wonder Beans “my re-telling of Jack and the Beanstalk as it could only have been told back in Knott County”? (“Interview” 124)
Why do you think Still said, “It may be that this book has a chance of greater longevity than any of my other works. All my powers and my gifts, such as they are, came together in those few pages. The news that some children are sleeping with this book and that their elders are reading it with some delight tickles me in a spot that is hard to get to”? (“Interview” 124)
4. What types of descriptions and word play do Still's riddles depend on? Do you agree that the following observations apply to Still's riddles?
Alison Jones wrote, "Solving riddles engages the mind with the external, puzzling world, rationalizing patterns of similarity and peculiarity, and bringing the environment within the compass of tribal comprehension.” And riddling “develops the capacity for sustained, imaginative application in the individual intellect of both children and adults" ( Larousse Dictionary of World Folklore. New York: Larousse, 1995).
Rebecca Briley observed that Still's most vivid riddles deal with cycles of nature and old age and death (78).
5. Comparing realistic fiction and folklore:
What are the roles of folklore in the characters' lives in the realistic stories?
Uncle Jolly is called a trickster and a witty. How is he like or unlike trickster characters in folktales, such as Jack?
Compare the tricks played by other characters in Sporty Creek.
How are the boys' adventures in the realistic stories like and unlike Jack's in Jack and the Wonder Beans?
How do folktales and nursery rhymes blend practical, psychological, and social realities of life with nonsense and fantasy?
6. How does Still's use of specific place names function in his writings? Do some of the place names and character names have thematic or symbolic significance in his stories?
7. Issues in the realistic novel Sporty Creek and comparisons with River of Earth:
Compare the families in Sporty Creek and River of Earth. How do the mothers and fathers disagree in their attitudes about what is best for the family? What holds the families together?
Compare the roles of the babies in Sporty Creek and River of Earth. What is the significance of the delay over naming the baby in Sporty Creek and the decision to name him Little Jolly? (See also the similar family in the 1941 short story "The Proud Walkers," where the father names the baby Zard after the helpful neighbor Old Izard Crownover, "a feller proud as ever walked.")
How do the migrations of the families show the effects of industrialization and economic depression in the mountains of Kentucky?
Does Sporty Creek (a novel for children) take a lighter or more optimistic approach to the problems associated with the family's poverty?
How does Uncle Jolly influence the children in these novels?
Do you think there is hope that the children in either novel will have better lives than their parents?
What typical experiences of boyhood and coming-of-age occur in either novel?
What are the roles of education and practical experience in the lives of the boys in these novels?
Compare some of Still's poems with characters or events in his fiction. For example, read "Unemployed Coal Miner" (in From the Mountain, From the Valley, p. 130) while discussing the fathers in Sporty Creek and River of Earth (see lists of other poems below).
Compare Still's stories and poems with nineteenth-century stories and poems of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by the English poet Thomas Hardy. Possible topics for comparison include
Descriptions of landscape, the characters' relationships with the land
Characters who are attached to rural homes and communities but must move from place to place
External and internal influences on rural communities and characters
The influence of traditional customs and superstitions on characters of different generations
Parents who are or are not providing fully for the needs of their children, and parents' ambitions for their children. Compare, for example, the parents in Sporty Creek and Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles or The Mayor of Casterbridge.
Page numbers are in From the Mountain, From the Valley: New and Collected Poems. Ed. Ted Olson. Lexington, UP of Kentucky, 2001. Poems about childhood are listed above. Specific place names occur in many poems (see note on "Post Offices" under Way Down Yonder riddle book above).
"Burned Tree," p. 28
"Fallow Years," p. 29
"The Bright Road," p. 30
"Artifacts," p. 31
"Let This Hill Rest," p. 33
"Lambs," p. 34
"Wilderness," p. 36
"Mountain Fox Hunt," p. 39
"Reckoning," p. 42
"Heritage," p. 43; also in McNeil anthology
"Child in the Hills," p. 50
"Passenger Pigeons," p. 51
"Fox Hunt on Defeated Creek," p. 53
"Foal," p. 54
"On Troublesome Creek," p. 57
"Graveyard," p. 59
"Tracks on Stone," p. 60
"Journey Beyond the Hills," p. 63
"Rain on the Cumberlands," p. 64
"I Was Born Humble," p. 67
"On Redbird Creek," p. 68
"Pattern for Death," p. 69; also in Francisco anthology, p. 1135
"Spring," p. 72
"Hounds on the Mountain," p. 73
"Horseback in the Rain," p. 74
"With Hands Like Leaves," p. 75
"River of Earth," p. 76
"White Highways," p. 77
"Come Down from the Hills," p. 83
"Eyes in the Grass," p. 84
"On Buckhorn Creek," p. 85
"Year of the Pigeons," pp. 86-87
"Where the Mares Have Fed," p. 88
"Now Has Day Come," p. 90
"Leap, Minnows, Leap," p. 92
"Morning: Dead Mare Branch," p. 93
"A Child's Wisdom," p. 94
"Hill-Lonely," p. 98
"Death in the Hills," p. 99
"Drought," p. 103
"The Broken Ibis," p. 105
"Early Whippoorwill," p. 106
"Wolfpen Creek," p. 108; called "On Wolfpen Creek" in The Wolfpen Rusties
"Funnel Spider," p. 110
"The Trees in the Road," p. 111
"Lamp," p. 112
"Man O' War," p. 113
"Lizard," p. 114
"Winter Tree," p. 117
"Day of Flowers," p. 120
"The Common Crow," p. 124
"After Some Twenty Years Attempting to Describe a Flowering Branch of Redbud," p. 125
"Dove," p. 143
"Mine Is a Wide Estate"
"Recollection," p. 148
"At Year's End," p. 149
"Fallow Years," p. 29
"Horse Swapping," p. 38
"The Hill-Born," p. 48
"Aftergrass," p. 49
"Passenger Pigeons," p. 51
"Farm," p. 52; also in Francisco anthology, p. 11
"Fox Hunt on Defeated Creek," p. 53
"Earth-Bread," p. 56
"On Troublesome Creek," p. 57
"Coal Town," p. 61
"On Redbird Creek," p. 68
"Court Day," p. 78
"On Double Creek," p. 79
"Night in the Coal Camps," p. 80
"Mountain Men Are Free," p. 97
"Apples," p. 104
"Apple Trip," p. 109; also in The Wolfpen Rusties
"On Being Drafted into the U.S. Army from My Log Home in March 1942," p. 115
"High Field," p. 129
"Unemployed Coal Miner," p. 130
"Apples in the Well," p. 131
"Death of a Fox," p. 132
"Swift Were Their Feet," p. 35 (about a father and children)
"Infare," p. 40
"Death on the Mountain," p. 44
"Uncle Ambrose," p. 46
"Clabe Mott," p. 47
"Yesteryear's People," p. 70
"A Hillsman Speaks," p. 71
"Epitaph for Uncle Ira Combs, Mountain Preacher," p. 81
"Nixie Middleton," p. 82
"Banjo Bill Cornett," p. 95
"Mountain Men Are Free," p. 97
"This Man Dying," p. 100
"Granny Frolic," p. 101, about a midwife and an expectant father; also in The Wolfpen Rusties
"Passing of a County Sheriff," p. 102
"Abandoned House," p. 107 (character of a house with only memories of people)
"Candidate," p. 116
"Welcome, Somewhat, Despite the Disorder," p. 118
"Of the Wild Man," p. 119
"Hunter," p. 121
"Are You Up There, Bad Jack?" p. 122
"What Have You Heard Lately?" p. 127
"Of the Faithful," p. 137
"Knife Trader," p. 138
"Truck Driver," p. 139
"Okra King," p. 140
"My Aunt Carrie," p. 146
"Mrs. Lloyd, Her Rag Sale," p. 147
"Those I Want in Heaven with Me Should There Be Such a Place," p. 150
"Dulcimer," p. 37
"When the Dulcimers are Gone," p. 41; also in Francisco anthology, p. 1135
"Death on the Mountain," p. 44
"Clabe Mott," p. 47
"Fiddlers' Convention on Troublesome Creek," p. 62
"Dance on Pushback," pp. 65-66; also in The Wolfpen Rusties and online at All-Time Best Poems, NC Guru web site
"A Hillsman Speaks," p. 71
"A Man Singing to Himself," p. 89
"I Shall Go Singing," p. 91
"Banjo Bill Cornett," p. 95
"Fiddle," p. 96
"Visitor," p. 123
"Madly to Learn," p. 128
"Of Concern," p. 142
"Recollection," p. 148
"My Days," p. 151
Adams, Noah. “Still's Love of Life Reflected in Novels and Poetry.” All Things Considered. National Public Radio. 10 Nov. 1995. NPR.org. Transcript. rpt. James Still Homepage. Ed. Sandy Hudock. Colorado State University-Pueblo.
Appalachian Journey. Film by Alan Lomax. Association for Cultural Equity, 1991. 58 min. Available at Folkstreams.net with background materials.
Breed, Allen G. “Celebrated Author Gives New Sauce to Mother Goose.” The Shawnee News-Star [Shawnee, OK] Web posted 2 Oct. 1998. This article quotes Lee Smith's views of the rhymes and tells how she convinced Still to publish them.
Briley, Rebecca Luttrell. "The River of Earth: Mystic Consciousness in the Works of James Still." Appalachian Heritage 9 (Spring-Summer-Fall 1981): 51-55; 64-80; 70-80. Includes discussion of Sporty Creek and the books of riddles.
DeCandido, GraceAnne A. Rev. of An Appalachian Mother Goose. Booklist 95 (1 Mar. 1, 1999): 1218.
Driskell, Leon V. Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 9: American Novelists, 1910-1945. A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Ed. James J. Martine. The Gale Group, 1981. 68-72. Available online through library databases such as Literature Resource Center.
Egerton, Judith. “Author James Still, Known for Love of Appalachia, Dies at 94.” The Courier-Journal [Louisville, KY] 29 Apr. 2001. Metro. Rpt. The Blacklisted Journal. Ed. Al Aronowitz. 1 May 2001.
Francisco, Edward, Robert Vaughan, and Linda Francisco, eds. The South in Perspective: An Anthology of Southern Literature. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2001. Reprints poems "Farm," "Pattern for Death," "When the Dulcimers Are Gone."
"'Read my tales, spin my rhymes': James Still’s Books for Children." Forthcoming in James Still, Appalachian Writer: Critical Essays and Memoirs. Ed. Ted Olson and Kathy H. Olson. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2007.
Hanlon, Tina L. “‘Read my tales, spin my rhymes’: James Still’s Books for Children.” Paper presented at Seventh Biennial Conference on Modern Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature, Nashville, March 31, 2007.
James Still Homepage. Maintained by Sandy Hudock, University of Southern Colorado, Pueblo, Colorado. Contains Autobiography, Text and Audio Poetry, Links to Critical and Biographical Sources, Searchable Index to Appalachian Heritage, and Links to Special Collections. Reprints of a number of important works about Still.
James Still’s River of Earth: Portrait of a Kentucky Poet. Documentary film (1997, 60 minutes) by Kentucky Educational Television. Downloadable study guide by George Ella Lyon at this link, for Reading/Writing curriculum for grades 7-adult. Biography by George Ella Lyon and photograph also at this KET link.
Mayhall, Jane. “James Still: Quality of Life, Quality of Art.” Shenandoah 48 (Summer 1998): 56-73.
Lang, John, Editor. "James Still Issue." Iron Mountain Review. 2.1 (Spring 1984).
Miller, Jim Wayne. "Appalachian Literature at Home in this World." Iron Mountain Review 2 (Summer 1984): 23-28. Rpt. An American Vein: Critical Readers in Appalachian Literature. Eds. Danny L. Miller, Sharon Hatfield, Gurney Norman. Athens: Ohio UP, 2005. 13-24. Includes comments on Sporty Creek and Jack and the Wonder Beans.
McNeil, Nellie, and Joyce Squibb, ed. A Southern Appalachian Reader. Boone, NC: Appalachian Consortium Press, 1989. Reprints Still's poem "Heritage."
Olson, Ted and Kathy H. Olson, eds. James Still, Appalachian Writer: Critical Essays on the Dean of Appalachian Literature. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2007. Part V. The Writings about and for Children, and the Folkloric Writings, includes essays "'We'll have to do something about that child': Representations of Childhood in the Short Stories" by Kathy H. Olson; "Journeys of Childhood in the Fiction" by Carol Boggess, "'Read my tales, spin my rhymes': The Books for Children" by Tina L. Hanlon, and The Wolfpen Notebooks: A Record of Appalachian Life" by Jim Wayne Miller.
"Still, James." Encyclopedia of Appalachia. Ed. Rudy Abramson and Jean Haskell. Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2006. pp. 1090-91. See index for other references to Still, including entry on Agrarianism.
Parales, Heidi Bright. “First James Still Fellow: Christina Parker.” Odyssey Spring 1999. University of Kentucky. 29 Jan. 2006. Includes comments from Still and Lee Smith on An Appalachian Mother Goose.
Review of An Appalachian Mother Goose by James Still. “Notes on Books.” VA Quarterly Review Spring 1999.
Runyon, Ed. "Maternal Instincts in James Still's 'Mrs. Razor' and 'The Nest.'" Student essay from English 3624: Appalachian Literature. Summer I 1999. Instructor: Dr. Stephen D. Mooney.
Runyon, Randolph Paul. “Looking the Story in the Eye: James Still's ‘Rooster.’” The Southern Literary Journal 23 (Spring 1991): 55-64.
Still, James. "An Interview with James Still." Appalachian Journal 6 (Winter 1979): 121-41.
Still, James. The
Wolfpen Notebooks: A Record of Appalachian Life. Lexington: UP of Kentucky,
1991. See notes on this book in Appalachian
Folktale Collections K - Z.
Note: This section is a new list in June 2007. Other selections will be added later. Some writings about schools and teaching in Appalachia are listed in Background Resources on Appalachian Children's Literature. See also list on Remembering Childhood, Growing Up in Thematic Table of Contents for Listen Here! Sandra L. Ballard and Patricia L. Hudson, eds. Listen Here: Women Writing in Appalachia. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003.
Arnow, Harriet. "The Washerwoman." Short story reprinted, with introduction by Sandra Ballard, in Higgs, Robert J., et al. Appalachia Inside Out: A Sequel to Voices from the Hills. Vol. 2. Knoxville: Tennessee UP, 1995, pp. 383-89. The story focuses on two young girls who sneak into the funeral of a washerwoman and observe contrasts between their mothers' middle-class peers and the dead woman's poor young daughter. Arnow's highly acclaimed novel The Dollmaker (New York, Macmillan, 1954) contains extensive treatment of the heroine's children, in a mountain family that moves to a Northern city.
Benedict, Pinkney. See Lesson Plan on Pinckney Benedict's "The Sutton Pie Safe" from Town Smokes.
Coberly, Lenore McComas. The Handywoman Stories. Athens, OH: Swallow Press/Ohio University Press, 2002. In this collection of compelling West Virginia short stories spanning most of the twentieth century, several selections are narrated by child characters. In "Garnet," a neighbor child observes a family in which the unattractive second wife, acquired in desperation after the first wife gives birth to her fifth child, turns out to be a gem. The first part of "Early Transparent" is narrated by the child of a widow whose neighbors are caught in a web of love, grief and conflicting loyalties during World War II.
Laskas, Gretchen. The Midwife's Tale. New York: Dial, 2003. A highly acclaimed novel about a young woman who grows up learning midwifery from her mother. (followed by the young adult novel The Miner's Daughter. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007).
Lyon, George Ella. With a Hammer for My Heart. DK Ink, 1997. See Lyon bibliography at this link.
Norman, Gurney. Kinfolks: The Wilgus Stories. Frankfort: Gnomon Press, 1989. Stories about childhood. Made into PBS film in 1998.
Norman, Gurney. "Snow Day." 2002. KET.org. A tiny short story narrated by a child, published online by KY Educational Television in Living by Words web site.
Smith, Lee. Fair and Tender Ladies. New York: Ballantine, 1988. This compelling novel records the life of Ivy Rowe, beginning in her childhood, through letters she writes to various people. She lives in a town for a while as a girl but spends most of her life in her native mountains. As a child she is influenced by three folktales that two "maiden" sisters tell to Ivy's father before he dies: Old Dry Fry, Mutsmag, and Whitebear Whittington. See AppLit's Folklore Themes in Longer Appalachian Fiction.
Poems
Johnson, Patricia A. See Lesson Plans for Poems in Patricia A. Johnson's Stain My Days Blue.
Miller, Jim Wayne. See Lesson Plans on Selections From Jim Wayne Miller's The Brier Poems.
Walker, Frank X. Affrilachia. Lexington, KY: Old Cove Press, 2000. For discussion of one poem about childhood in this collection, see "Childhood Dreams: Frank X Walker's 'Death by Basketball.'"
Biography
Caudill, Rebecca. My Appalachia; A Reminiscence. Photog. Edward Wallowitch. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966. 90 pp.
Clark, Billy C. A Long Row to Hoe. Ashland, KY: Jesse Stuart Foundation, 2002. 285 pp. Introduction by Gurney Norman. Clark's account of his "sprawling, ragged, family" in Calettsburg, KY, where they lived in "a derelict house, 'the Leaning Tower,' on the banks of the Ohio River" and Clark had adventures on the rivers. He was the only one in his family to become educated. With photographs.
Collingsworth, Steward. My Heart's in the Highlands: The Story of a Public School Teacher in Appalachia. New York: Vantage Press, 2003. About East Tennessee.
This page created 4/22/06. Last update: 05/15/2008
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