An Appalachian Childhood is a remarkable memoir about growing up on a small, hardscrabble farm in the mountains of Georgia. Deany Brady tells the story of her colorful childhood in the 1930s and 40s with freshness, humor, wit, and intelligence. She is a master storyteller, following in the vigorous oral tradition of her parents and her grandmother, who told vivid family stories all through her childhood. Following the arc of her young life, Brady beautifully captures her own growth from a daydreaming child, creating mansions out of moss and sticks, and gazing at the famous people in the newspapers covering the walls, to a girl in love with language and writing, whose greatest happiness is to read all of Gone with the Wind to her mother by the wash stream one magical summer. Unusual in her Appalachian community, the young Deany yearns not only to complete her high school education but to find a way to better her own life and that of her family's, by moving to the big city of Atlanta and hoping to gain a college education. Even as Deany's life grows more intricate and challenging, and even as she makes her own mistakes in her urge to escape the constraints of Appalachia, she holds onto her dream of a life filled with knowledge, happiness and beauty.An Appalachian Childhood is the first half of a two-part memoir. It covers Deany Brady's first twenty-two years. The second half, Higher than Yonder Mountain, is forthcoming. This second volume follows her grown-up life's arc from Georgia to Miami Beach, to Park Avenue in New York, and ultimately to her life as a writer in California.

Left with Aunt Mattie and Uncle (sheriff) Cade in the North Carolina mountains, nine-year-old June becomes "Mattie's Girl" when Cade is killed at the home of her best friend PeeDee. In stories deeply rooted in 1940s Appalachia, June chronicles the years b

“Mining companies piled trash coal in a slag heap and set it ablaze. The coal burned up, but the slate didn’t. The heat turned it rose and orange and lavender. The dirt road I lived on was paved with that sharp-edged rock. We called it Red Dog. My grandmother always told me, ‘Don’t you go running on that Red Dog road.’ But oh, I did.” Gypsies, faith-healers, moonshiners, and snake handlers weave through Drema’s childhood in 1940s Appalachia after Drema’s father is killed in the coal mines, her mother goes off to work as a Rosie the Riveter, and she is left in the care of devout Pentecostal grandparents. What follows is a spitfire of a memoir that reads like a novel with intrigue, sweeping emotion, and indisputable charm. Drema’s coming of age is colored by tent revivals with Grandpa, jitterbug lessons, and traveling carnivals, and though it all, she serves witness to a multi-generational family of saints and sinners whose lives defy the stereotypes. Just as she defies her own. Running On Red Dog Road is proof that truth is stranger than fiction, especially when it comes to life and faith in an Appalachian childhood.

A collection of poems centered around life in Appalachia addresses topics ranging from the marginalization of the region's people to the environmental degradation it has endured throughout history.

Presents a description of contemporary life in the Appalachian Region of Kentucky while focusing on the home and activities of ten-year-old Joseph Ratliff and his family.

The author describes the unique life experiences of a child growing up in a small rural Appalachian community in Southern Ohio. The chapters humorously, yet seriously, describe various aspects of maturing in this culture during the mid twentieth century, (through the following topics: education, religion, food, pets, family, 4-H, prejudice, and work) from a youthful, yet historically accurate, perspective.

Bea grows up dirt poor among the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in central West Virginia. There's lots of work to do, and amenities such as indoor plumbing and central heating are nonexistent. While others in Nicholas County had it tough, no one else had to suffer the type of abuse she did at home. Bea's father runs his household like a dictator, and he's never hesitant to abuse his daughter whenever she does anything not to his liking. Bea gets slapped, kicked, and beaten even at five years old. While Bea's spirit sometimes wavers as a result of being unable to please her father, her story is ultimately one of survival. By never giving up and trusting in God, she overcomes years of abuse, proving that fate and faith can lead to dreams that victims of abuse often think are unattainable. Become immersed in a story that defines the true meaning of determination as Bea recounts a journey that will inspire anyone who has ever suffered or felt like giving up in Appalachian Child.