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Reading keeps me alive! It is like food for my imagination. One of my absolute favorite books is Fair and Tender Ladies, by Lee Smith. Ivy Rowe reminds me so much of parts of myself, and of my mother's generation of people in the coal camps of eastern Kentucky. Lee Smith writes the story from Ivy's point of view, starting when Ivy is 8 years old. She uses the letter form to tell Ivy's life story. We see Ivy's language change, and her tone change, as she matures. Ivy's language and dialect are like mine. Appalachian English is proudly my first language, and any mainstream, standardized, textbook English I use, is my second language. So, Ivey Rowe, and her people, her story, speak a lot for me and my culture.

Reviewed by Anndrena B., Appalachian Storyteller

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