Fifteen-year-old Dusty, a ward of the state, is forced to work in a logging camp during the Depression. Despite the bleakness of her life, spirited Dusty dreams of escape.
United States
Materials from United States of America
The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow
A superstitious schoolmaster, in love with a wealthy farmer’s daughter, has a terrifying encounter with a headless horseman.
Old Dry Frye
A humorous retelling of an Appalachian folktale about a preacher who chokes on a chicken bone.
Sure As Sunrise: Stories Of Bruh Rabbit and His Walkin’ Talkin’ Friends
With the humor and wisdom of her North Carolina roots, Alice McGill shares the stories she remembers from her father, mother, grandmother, and neighbors. Her telling is as fresh as “a loaf of bread still warm from the ashes” as she brings to life the creatures that so fascinated her as a child: Bruh Rabbit, Sis Possum, Bruh Bear, and Bruh Fox. Illustrated with zest and warmth, these stories were passed on for generations and are, ultimately, a celebration of the human spirit. For as sure as sunrise, the cleverness of the small but sassy Bruh Rabbit shines through as he outwits the more powerful, again and again.
Aesop Accolades (Awards)
Callie Ann and Mistah Bear
A bear disguised as a fine, handsome man comes courting Callie Ann’s widowed mother and Callie Ann must outwit the bear to prevent her mother from marrying it.
Cross Your Fingers, Spit In Your Hat
Explains superstitions about such topics as love and marriage, money, ailments, travel, the weather, and death.
Jack Outwits The Giants
In this Appalachian folktale, Jack outwits two giants who want fresh meat for breakfast.
Jean Laffite and the Big Ol’ Whale
When a huge white whale gets stuck between the banks of the Mississippi River causing the water to stop flowing, Jean Laffite finds a way to get the river moving again.
Witcracks
Traces the history and gives examples of puns, shaggy-dog stories, and other jokes from American humor of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The Red Heels
An itinerant shoemaker in colonial New England makes a pair of shoes for a beautiful young woman, although he fears the red heels are a sign that she is a witch.