Fishing for Chickens: Short Stories About Rural Youth - Softcover

2.5

12 ratings by Goodreads

9780892552658: Fishing for Chickens: Short Stories About Rural Youth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0892552654 ISBN 13: 9780892552658

Publisher: Persea, 2001

What is it like to grow up on a farm in the Midwest, on a ranch in the West, in the hills of the South, in the backwoods of New England, or on the wild Alaskan coast? In these seventeen short stories, some of our best writers take us into the lives of young people growing up in rural America to find out.

Sixteen poignant short stories portray the special experience of growing up in rural America. In this unique collection, sixteen writers, both established and new, take us to the backwoods, farmlands, mountains, and coastal regions of the USand into the lives of young people who are growing up there. Neither sentimental nor nostalgic, their richly plotted and poignant stories dispel the myth of the country idyll to reveal the tough realities of a rural childhood, as well as its rewards. In Rebecca Rule's "Walking the Trapline," a routine trek with her father and brother into the frigid New England woods becomes a test of survival for a young girl. "Sugar Among the Chickens" by Lewis Nordan, a comic tale, features a bored farm boy in Mississippi intent on catching a big rooster with a baited fishing line. When a flock of geese escapes the hunters' guns in North Carolinian writer Tony Earley's "Aliceville," a boy's disappointment is replaced by wonder as he realizes that their breathtaking passage overhead "made our world less small." The authors included are Pinckney Benedict, Nancy Brown, Nora Dauenhauer, Tony Earley, Eric Gansworth, Jim Heynen, Lewis Nordan, Tomas Rivera, Rebecca Rule, Wallace Stegner, Kathleen Tyau, Alma Villanueva, Jon Volkmer, Alice Walker, Vicky Wicks, and Hisaye Yamamoto. Whether rural native or lifelong urban dweller, every reader will come away from this collection with a deeper appreciation of the influence of place upon individual growth and of the special qualities of a country upbringing.

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About the Author:

Jim Heynen is the author of two story collections, The One-Room Schoolhouse and The Boys' House, as well as two novels for young adults, Cosmos Coyote and William the Nice and Being Youngest. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, and teaches writing at Olaf College.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 7 Up-A collection of stories that captures the richness of a varied American landscape. Some settings, such as a bitterly cold New England woods, a southern farm, and a ranch, are predictable and familiar; others carry readers to unexpected destinations and new worlds of experience: the Alaskan coastline, a Hawaiian pineapple cannery, and an Indian reservation. Each protagonist is a young person learning lessons of life particular to the country. "You gotta' have guts, skill, and smarts livin' in the country," Meg's father tells her in Nancy Brown's "Burn Pile." What binds the stories together is the strong connection the main characters have with the natural world. Given the playful, perhaps misleading, title, readers may be surprised that, with few exceptions, the stories are somber, sometimes violent, reflecting real experiences of young people. The cover illustration, however, foreshadows serious themes, with a brightly colored rooster about to chomp down on a fishing hook. Some authors are well known-Wallace Stegner ("The Colt") and Alice Walker ("The Flowers"). Most, however, are new, representing many different ethnic and racial groups: Tlingit, Mexican, Chicano, Japanese-American, African American. Heynen includes two of his own masterful stories. "What Happened During the Ice Storm" is an image-rich, two-page story about boys who feel unexpected pity for helpless pheasants and are moved to rescue rather than torment or hurt them. This is an important collection of previously published short stories brought together to develop a theme from diverse points of view. It breaks many of the stereotypes about what it means to grow up in rural America. Without exception, the stories are strong.
Lee Bock, Glenbrook Elementary School, Pulaski, WI
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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