"Ray Hicks", Robert Isbell's beautiful narrative about one of America's favorite Appalachian storytellers, brought me to tears, into uncontrollable guffaws, and sent chills up my spine - a literary high. Isbell recounts his conversations with various members of the Hicks' kinship, painting beautiful images of the proud yet humble life which abounds in the Southern Appalachians.
Most wonderful about this book is that Isbell does not go too far in attempting to present Hicks' vernacular speech in a jumbled, Elizabethan mess. He relies simply on Hicks' eloquent turns-of-phrase to present his fascination and amazement with the man's craft. The author's prose reads like fiction and ethnography simultaneously, resulting in a heartfelt portrayal of the American spirit.
Isbell, no dummy when it comes to mountain life himself, is able to create an honest portrait not only of one man, but an entire family and an entire region. He weaves magic, fantasy, reality, music, Jack tales, religion, and myth-as-truth to create one hell of a literary, folkloric and anthropological accomplishment.
When I finished the book, I closed it softly with a tearful smile. I then ordered a basket of daisies to be delivered to Ray and Rosa Hicks at their Old Mountain Rd. home.

Sadly, Ray Hicks has been diagnosed with advanced cancer since this book was written. A fund has been created for the cause (The Ray and Rosa Hicks Fund), the address of which can be found on various webpages.

This is a book that makes you stop and think, or vice-versa.
I loved it and recommend it to everybody.

I bought this for my son the month he started preschool. I opened it when I received the order, read it, and bawled. With the tears pouring down my face, I wrote to him in the front cover of the book, value of the book be damned! I told him the miracle of my love and my feelings about getting him this far in life. On his Graduation Day from high school, I will read the book again, most likely cry again, and proceed to put those feelings into words in the back cover. This will be a gift from just me, not Dad, or Brother, or Sis; just me. Maybe this will make it priceless to him. I hope he treasures it as I do him. Baby, if you ever see this, I LOVE YOU! Mommy

I got this book after I came home from 38 hours of labor delivering my daughter Meghan Elizabeth who was sadly born still "too beautiful for this world" and I just LOVED the poems, they made me feel more full of hope and so loved. The poems are very special and wonderful to share with a friend having problems, down or upset, or someone who has loss of a baby or loved one, cause many times in life, we need to take it, "one step at a time."

I think that any educator should read this book and keep it close by. I absolutely loved the poems 'What is a Teacher,' 'Teaching is a Lifelong Journey,' and 'God Bless the Teacher.' I think that any teacher who is on the verge of burnout could benefit from this book. The book really states what it means to be a teacher.

This book is a wonderful book that will make you cry with every passage you read. This book reminds me time an again when I read it that my mother truely cares and has thoughts she finds hard to speak and this book allows me to take notice of her thoughts and feelings...And that other mothers feel the same

I got this book for my mom for christmas.She loved the poetry so much.She read it with me.I realy bonded with her.We both enjoyed it,she deserves this book.

My seven-year-old daughter and I read together almost every night. In the past two years, no book (besides the Old Testament) has been her selection more than When the Whippoorwill Calls. The Blue Ridge family it depicts finds out the federal government is buying up their mountain to make way for the Blue Ridge Parkway. In the process, the seven-year-old protagonist learns a lesson of hope from the example of her father, who struggles with, but in the end adapts to, their move to the flatlands. The beauty of the story, though, is in its language. Like the mountain people she writes about, Ms. Ransom has a gift for expressing complicated sentiment in simple and concrete ways. After a number of readings, it dawned on me that I was reading good poetry. I should mention that the lllustrations are lovely and the layout of the pages is attractive and interesting.

Charming and delightful are the words that come to mind when I remember the experience of reading White Mountain Blues. This novel is based on a script Hal Zina Bennett wrote for the TV series Northern Exposure. His wife, Susan Sparrow, loved the story so much that she urged him to convert it into a novel when Northern Exposure was cancelled before the script could be produced. The transformation from script to novel was quite effective -- the result is very enjoyable on its own merits, while retaining the quirky humor of the TV show. (Now and then, the author receives a letter from a Northern Exposure fan who has read his book and discovered the link.)

White Mountain Blues "celebrates the spirit that connects us to each other and to the natural world, where eagles fly." In fact, one of the characters in this book IS an eagle whose name is Sun.

In his prologue, the author warns that "the tale is pretty sparse on impertinent sex scenes, kinky emotional abuse and colorful violence. Even more out of fashion, there's a mostly happy ending." Venture into White Mountain Blues -- you'll have a great time.

This is a great gift for all ages and all people in any christian religion. It has become a cherished book that I share with all my friends. These poems will help any reader to feel closer to God as they come to realize how near to us He truely is.