Winter reading option from The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning
Each winter, we team up with our friends at The Carnegie Center for Literacy & Learning to provide our readers with a list of important new books with strong ties to Kentucky. Each of these titles was published in 2021 by a Kentucky author – we hope the listings will provide you with some good fodder for cozying up with a book as we settle into this season of long nights and cold weather.
Pop: An Illustrated Novel
By Robert Gipe
Robert Gipe’s readers saw Dawn Jewell come of age in the shadow of coal mining in his 2016 debut “Trampoline” and saw the opioid epidemic shake up Canard County in his 2018 follow-up, “Weedeater.” Now, Gipe invites you to take one last trip down to Canard County in the third and final installment of this series of illustrated novels. Its’s time for 17-year-old Nicolette, Dawn’s daughter, to understand her own role in her rural community while Trump’s America roars in the background. With honesty, wittiness and plenty of compelling illustrations, Gipe once again delivers a sincere and emotional look at life in the mountains.
– Reviewed by Kimber Grey, Carnegie Center Marketing Associate
When Two Feathers Fell From The Sky
By Margaret Verble
Pulitzer finalist Margaret Verble of Lexington draws again on her Cherokee heritage for a page-turner of a novel set in segregated 1920s Nashville. Two Feathers is a young Cherokee horse diver working at an amusement park built atop an ancient burial ground. At one performance, her dive goes horribly wrong. As she recovers from injuries, Two Feathers is stalked by a racist admirer – and protected by a spirit. Verble’s writing is lean, elegant and captivating.
– Reviewed by Tom Eblen, Carnegie Center Literary Liaison
This Close to Okay
By Leesa Cross-Smith
Leesa Cross-Smith’s “This Close to Okay” grabs you as soon as Tallie sees Emmett preparing to jump off a Louisville bridge and stops to convince him not to. As it turns out, both characters have devastating pasts and secrets they must reveal in order to heal. During a Halloween party scene, the reader finds it hard to endure what’s happening but at the same time can’t tear her eyes away from it. This Louisville author’s beautifully written novel tops several national must-read lists.
– Reviewed by Jennifer Hester Mattox, Carnegie Center Development Director
Drowned Town
By Jayne Moore Waldrop
Lexington writer Jayne Moore Waldrop’s debut novel contains several linked stories about people who lost their homes and heritage when the federal government dammed the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers in far western Kentucky and created the Land Between the Lakes recreation area. The book explores love, sisterhood, family and how a sense of place can be both lost and found. “Drowned Town” is entertaining and educational, telling the story of a part of the state many Kentuckians know little about.
– Reviewed by Tom Eblen, Carnegie Center Literary Liaison
The Freethinker’s Daughter
By Jenny O’Neill
From the moment “The Freethinker’s Daughter” begins with a devastating flood, we are swept into Calendula Farmer’s story, her difficult life and her extraordinary courage. Although hard things happen in this novel, “The Freethinkers Daughter” is not a maudlin tale. Not only does Cal show great strength of character, she also is a young girl of impressive convictions. Readers can’t help but cheer her on as she grows into an abolitionist and champion for others.
This is an important book. Cal is a model of what it means to be an ally to Black people crushed under the weight of systemic racism in one of the most shameful periods in American history. Young people who want to support and advocate for anyone forced to live in the margins can benefit from her example. She also teaches readers, especially girls, important lessons on standing in their power despite opposition, and both trusting and using their voice for change. Read it, then go and do good.
– Reviewed by Claudia Love Mair, Carnegie Kentucky Black Writers Collaborative Coordinator
The Girl Singer
By Marianne Worthington
Marianne Worthington’s “The Girl Singer” is a lyrical ballad of a book – poems that capture the human experience in a way that makes you see and experience the world anew. With the distant strains of a fiddle melody, a foundation of feminist strength and the rhythm of our shared emotions, she winds tales as diverse and broad as the varied timberland and chaparral of the Appalachian range. It’s an emotional journey, both a joy and a sorrow of a read – in the ways of all the great country songs.
– Reviewed by Sarah Chapman, Carnegie Center Program Director