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• Ecology of a Cracker Childhood

  "Write about what you know," is an old axiom for would-be authors. Janisse Ray takes this to heart in "Ecology of a Cracker Childhood." Part autobiography and childhood memoir and part an ecology of plants and animals, this is a wonderful tale that successfully blends both. Janisse Ray is writing about what she knows best. The human dimension to her tale is a tale of growing up with her family in the natural world. The family home sits in the middle of a junkyard along old Route 1 in southeastern Georgia in a forest of longleaf pine. It is a coming of age story, where she is clearly destined for a horizon beyond the junkyard in the pines. She is solidly grounded in her childhood environment, low on the affluence scale, but one which has prepared her well for life. "Ecology of a Cracker Childhood" conveys a great sense of place and will give the reader a newfound respect for a forest of longleaf pine. I bought this book at the Visitor Center at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, not all that far from Baxley, Georgia. I am glad they stocked it in the store. Reading this put me on to "Pinhook," her next work which I also recommend.

• A warm, friendly read which opens up a once ...

  A warm, friendly read which opens up a once closed childhood to the world, and leaves it to blossom in a very clear and well written style which explores the author's history as well as the nature of her childhood environment.

• Two books in One

  Thoroughly enjoyable and educational. Every other chapter is about the endangered longleaf pine which once stretched from Viginia to Louisiana. The true identy and origin of the term Cracker is explained clearly for the first time. Also embedded in the chapters not about the longleaf pine is a long and continuing observation and explanation about mental illness. The passage written by her mentally ill father describing his view of his illness is quite powerful. For me it gave new insight into the state of Georgia and the settlers in the southern portion. I was initially dreading it would go overboard on ecology but the balance she seems to show between human and plant life kept me reading.

• One of My New Favorite Books

  I am rarely so moved by the beauty of a book as to shed tears; I can count the number of books that have affected me that way on one hand. This is one of them (another is Illumination in the Flatwoods, another north Florida/south Georgia book). The chapter "written" by Audubon to Bachman while in heaven (with St. Francis and millions of Carolina parakeets present) just did me in with its beauty. I am in awe of Ray's skill as a writer; she is obviously both a naturalist and a poet. But what stands out the most for me about this book is the love. I'm not sure if I've ever seen in a memoir so much love, between the parents, from the parents for the children, and from Ray for her parents, as well, of course, as for the long leaf pine ecosystem. The amount and sheer force of the love in this book reminds me of Angela's Ashes. It doesn't get much better than this.

• Amazing

  Such an impactful book. My students LOVED it!!

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