Dear WinkWorld Readers,
Thank you, Kerry Frei, for the photo of the sign which dear Cuzzin’ Zane King made for us. In this WinkWorld, I will share some of my summer reading. The next WinkWorld will focus on transactional literacy (Thank you, Louise Rosenblatt) and transformational literacy and learning.
I finished all 7 Harry Potter books. There were moments when I did think that I would skip a few pages, but I just couldn’t do it. When I finished, I thought: I must read these again. I still have not seen the movies. Glad I read these books: Finally, a little street cred with our grands.
When I finished, I jumped into the opposite, City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert. I learned that even though some of those theater women of the 40s were not good girls, they were still good people.
After this, I finally read Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Thank you, Sherilyn, my MHS friend, for saying that it was the best novel you had ever read. When I saw that, I immediately started reading it. I so admired the strength of the young heroine.
While I was reading Crawdads, my Yankton friend, Annie, asked me if I had read The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson, and I had not read it. However, I immediately thought of the children’s book, That Book Woman by Heather Henson, with gorgeous water color pages by David Small. As it turns out, both of these books focus on the same subject matter, the Pack Horse Librarians of the Kentucky hills in post-depression era.
When Annie said Troublesome Creek, it also made me think immediately of another of my fav books, Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair by Patricia Polacco.
Of course, I cannot think of Triple Creek Dam without immediately thinking of a story, which I wrote about it. If you click on Continue reading below, you will be taken to that story in The Power of Story.
However, back to Annie: Had I ever read That Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson? No, but now, I have, and absolutely loved it. (Diane and Betty, I am sending to you next.) Whereas the children’s book, That Book Woman is a work-of-art, it does not portray the difficult life of the Kentucky Pack Horse librarians who were funded by Roosevelt’s New Deal Act. Prepare yourself for the devastating poverty of the hill people of Kentucky right after the depression. And, I had NEVER read about the blue people of Kentucky. Fascinating. Richardson tells a gripping story, and at the end of the book, she gives the history of these brave women librarians and their relationships with the families in the “hollers.” Reading provided the hope that many people needed. Richardson also gives the history of the blue people at the end of her novel. If you want a good read, I highly recommend this book.
So, now what will I read? Here are the two, which I have stacked on my table waiting for me. I note that often I am late to reading a good book; for example this Woodson book is 20 years old, and in it Woodson will tell a modern-day Romeo and Juliet love story. Star-crossed lovers, I suspect. Also, I was late to Crawdads. I was very, very late to reading all of Harry Potter. It was only when I realized that our 20-something grands did not even remember a time before Harry that I thought I better read them. I also was chagrined that I didn’t know all of the Harry references coming from the little kids at Atall School.
And, finally,
And, unlike Brooks, we all know that this is not my second mountain–nor my first rodeo.
Meet my ever-present rancher reading buddy.
