This book is a mostly humorous look at life in traditional rural Appalachia. It is based on true stories either in her lifetime or those handed down in the oral tradition of the culture. It is a collection of short stories, vignettes, and poetry. It is a testament to the tenacity and heart of these hearty people.

In this variation on the Cinderella story, based on the Charles Perrault version but set in the Smoky Mountains, Rose loses her glass slipper at a party given by the rich feller on the other side of the creek.

Getting acquainted with local flora and fauna is the perfect way to begin to understand the wonder of nature. The natural environment of Southern Appalachia, with habitats that span the Blue Ridge to the Cumberland Plateau, is one of the most biodiverse on earth. A Literary Field Guide to Southern Appalachia—a hybrid literary and natural history anthology—showcases sixty of the many species indigenous to the region. Ecologically, culturally, and artistically, Southern Appalachia is rich in paradox and stereotype-defying complexity. Its species range from the iconic and inveterate—such as the speckled trout, pileated woodpecker, copperhead, and black bear—to the elusive and endangered—such as the American chestnut, Carolina gorge moss, chucky madtom, and lampshade spider. The anthology brings together art and science to help the reader experience this immense ecological wealth. Stunning images by seven Southern Appalachian artists and conversationally written natural history information complement contemporary poems from writers such as Ellen Bryant Voigt, Wendell Berry, Janisse Ray, Sean Hill, Rebecca Gayle Howell, Deborah A. Miranda, Ron Rash, and Mary Oliver. Their insights illuminate the wonders of the mountain South, fostering intimate connections. The guide is an invitation to get to know Appalachia in the broadest, most poetic sense.

I reckon ye heard o' Cinderella, but lemme tell you a story 'bout a sweet li'l thing named Rose? Set in the Appalachian Mountains and told in a lilting dialect that just begs to be read aloud, this is a unique and lively adaptation of the traditional Cinderella story. Complete with an enchanting protagonist, a glass slipper, and a fairy godmother who just happens to be a hog, Smoky Mountain Rose is a joy to read again and again.

This informative field guide covers the wildflowers of the entire Appalachian region, which stretches from Quebec to northern Alabama, encompassing the Catskills of New York, the Berkshires of Massachusetts, the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, and many mountain ranges in between. Using this book, readers will learn to identify this region's wildflowers by shape, color, family, and habitat. Ecologist and botanist Thomas E. Hemmerly encourages us to "read the landscape" in order to learn about plants' habitats, distribution, and use. In his brief, introductory chapters, he describes ecosystems such as mountain forests and wetlands to provide a context for the information on individual plant species that will be valuable to both professional scientists and amateur naturalists. Practical: The 378 color plates, grouped by color for clear reference, appear alongside plant descriptions for ease of identification.Informative: Each entry includes a description of the plant's habitat, abundance, and geographical distribution, along with information about its ethnobotanical, economic, or medicinal uses. An appendix lists and describes the best places in the Appalachians for "botanizing."User-Friendly: Diagrams of leaf and flower shapes are a further aide to plant identification.The Appalachian Region: Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Quebec, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia

Winner of Weatherford Award for Best Poetry Book about Appalachia A poet acclaimed for "uncompromising, honest poems that sound like no one else" (The Rumpus) now offers considerations of the natural world and humans' place within it in ecopoetry of both ambitious reach and elegant refinement Rose McLarney has won attention as a poet of impressive insight, craft, and a "constantly questioning and enlarging vision" (Andrew Hudgins). In her third collection, Forage, she continues to weave together themes she loves: home, heritage, the South, animals, water, the environment. These intricately sequenced poems take up everything from animals' symbolic roles in art and as indicators of ecological change to how water can represent a large, troubled system or the exceptions of smaller, purer tributaries. At the confluence of these poems is a social commentary that goes beyond lamenting environmental degradation and disaster to record--and augment--the beauty of the world in which we live.

This informative field guide covers the wildflowers of the entire Appalachian region, which stretches from Quebec to northern Alabama, encompassing the Catskills of New York, the Berkshires of Massachusetts, the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, and many mountain ranges in between. Using this book, readers will learn to identify this region's wildflowers by shape, color, family, and habitat. Ecologist and botanist Thomas E. Hemmerly encourages us to "read the landscape" in order to learn about plants' habitats, distribution, and use. In his brief, introductory chapters, he describes ecosystems such as mountain forests and wetlands to provide a context for the information on individual plant species that will be valuable to both professional scientists and amateur naturalists. Practical: The 378 color plates, grouped by color for clear reference, appear alongside plant descriptions for ease of identification.Informative: Each entry includes a description of the plant's habitat, abundance, and geographical distribution, along with information about its ethnobotanical, economic, or medicinal uses. An appendix lists and describes the best places in the Appalachians for "botanizing."User-Friendly: Diagrams of leaf and flower shapes are a further aide to plant identification.The Appalachian Region: Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Quebec, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia

Fairy diddle is a local term used in the Appalachian Mountains for a small, nocturnal flying squirrel which is hard to see because it moves so fast and can become quite the pest if it takes up residence in the surroundings of a home. This term may have been applied to the hyperactive movements of small children which can also become annoying to the adults around them.

Breece D'J Pancake cut short a promising career when he took his own life at the age twenty-six. Published posthumously, this is a collection of stories that depict the world of Pancake's native rural West Virginia.