Rural
Settings
Contributor's Form (list
#262)
- ?? Belle Prater's Boy
- ?? Cold Sassy, it's rural
south.
- ?? The Relatives Came
- Avi The Barn
- Belton, Sandra. From Miss Ida's
Porch (an native WV), illustrated by Floyd Cooper is set in
Beckley, WV. It is a beautiful story of storytelling on the
porch, past memories of Duke Ellington and Marian Anderson. It is
very realistic in that it does not exclude the ugly-the fact that
these famous people were not allowed to stay in motels,
etc.
- Birdseye, Tom.
- Brink, Carol Ryrie. Caddie
Woodlawn
- Carter, Willa. My Antonia
- Chase, Richard. The Jack
Tales
- Cleaver, Vera and Bill: Where the
Lilies Bloom (1969) - a family of parentless children living on a
hill farm try to survive the harsh winter by gathering roots and
plants for sale.
- Creech. Walk Two Moons
- Groff, Cricket
- Gurney, Norman. Kinfolks is not a
children's book per se but the stories focus on a rural child and
they have been made into a PBS film (for viewing next spring, I
believe).
- Hamilton, Virginia "M.C. Higgins
the Great" ... and probably others of hers.
- Harshman, Marc and Bonnie Collins.
Rocks in My Pockets, a very humorous folktale-type story, that
takes place in a realistic rural setting.
- Harshman, Marc. Moving Days (a
long-time WV), illustrated by Wendy Popp is a present day account
of a family having to move from their country home closer to the
main town (which is still somewhat rural). The story is set in
WV, though the text does not indicate so.
- Hite, Sid. Dither Farm (in rural VA
with a swamp but not mountains). There is a sequel and his book
"It's Nothing to a Mountain" (Blue Ridge setting) is supposed to
be good, too.
- Hite, Sid. Several titles
- Hooks, William H.
- Houston, Gloria.
- Hunt, Irene. Across Five Aprils
- Hunt, Irene. Up a Road Slowly
- Keats and Lester/Pinkney John
Henry.
- Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird
- Lyon, George Ella.
- Lyon, George Ella. Come a Tide
by
- MacLachlan, Patricia. Sarah, Plain
and Tall
- McCullers, Carson. The Heart is a
Lonely Hunter
- McCullers, Carson. The Member of
the Wedding
- Mills, Lauren. Rag Coat is a moving
picture book about a coal town family and poverty.
- Moser, Barry. Has at least 3
picture books that use European fairy tale or ballad plots and
depict small-town Appalachian life: The Tinderbox, Polly Vaughn,
and Tucker Pfeffercorn (Rumpelstilstkin set in a coal
town).
- Naylor, Phyllis books, including
the three "Shiloh" books.
- Paterson, Katherine. Brige to
Terabithia is rural VA.
- Paulsen, Gary. Harris and Me
- Peck, Richard. A Long Way From
Chicago are great rural books, although they're both midwestern,
rather than southern.
- Peck, Robert Newton. A Day No Pigs
Would Die
- Ransome, Candice. When the
Whipporwill Calls (VA resident), illustrated by Kimberly Bulcken
Root--based on a family that has to move from their land in the
Blue Ridge Mountains of VA because the land was chosen as a site
for a national park
- Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan. "The
Yearling,"
- Rawls, Wilson. "Where the Red Fern
Grows,"
- Reaver, Chap. "Bill,"
- Rylant, Cynthia. Missing May The
1993 Newbery winner takes place in West Virginia. Rylant is from
WV and most of her books have rural settings.
- Sams, Ferrol. With the
Horsemen.
- Smucker, Anna Egan No Star Nights
is an interesting picture book reminiscence about childhood in an
Appalachian steel town.
- Still, James
- Tate, Eleanora --"The Secret of
Gumbo Grove," and more.
- Taylor, Mildred. The Logan Family
Chronicles ("The Well," "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry," "Let the
Circle Be Unbroken," "Road to Memphis")
- Taylor, Theodore The Weirdo (1991),
about living in and protecting bears in a NC swamp area.
- White, Ruth. Sweet Creek Holler
- White, Ruth. Weeping Willow
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