Ecology of a Cracker Childhood
The World as Home

Perhaps this book received five stars from me out of a certain bias. I did, after all, attend Janisse Ray's reading at SUNY Oneonta in March 2010. I was entranced by a passion I had never witnessed before. Her Southern drawl, her soft voice that spoke so boldly was with me while I read through her b......more

If you ever do pick up this book, I suggest you search for videos on YouTube of Janisse Ray and watch a couple of them - ones of her speaking. Her Southern accent is so rich and beautiful; I heard her voice as I read the book. Janisse Ray grew up in a junkyard, and at first I found her writing to be......more

Y’ALL. This is one of my favorite books, bar none. It is a memoir, both of Janisse Ray’s childhood and of a crucial ecosystem on the brink of extinction. “The landscape that I was born to, that owns my body: the uplands and lowlands of southern Georgia,” she begins. “Nothing is more beautiful, nothi......more

I recommend this book for those interested in biology, ecology, the scrutiny of small environments and the interrelatedness of their living things. The main geographic area discussed is the longleaf pine woods of South Georgia but the savannas and bogs get some time as well. "Longleaf pine is the tr......more

This was not at all what I thought it would be. Not a funny, tongue-in-cheek memoir; this woman is serious about being a cracker. But good for her. I wanted more childhood & less ecology. She does a wonderful job describing the disappearing Georgia longleaf pine forests, but I was more interested in......more