Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2771194 in Books
• Published on: 1997-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 360 pages

Amazon.com Review
The publisher calls this a novel, but really it's a series of short stories that feature the same characters. Most of the stories are narrated by Johnny Woodside, a city boy who goes to live with his grandparents in rural Florida after his father is sentenced to prison. Some of the stories, like "The Mulberry Tree" where Johnny's girl cousins lure him into getting attacked by a mockingbird, are playful reminiscences of childhood. Others deal with more adult concerns, as in the ribald "A Conversation Among My Aunts" and "The Mamas and The Papas," in which young Paulus Keats learns that his tangled family history means he can marry the girl of his dreams after all. At their best, these are wistful stories, sometimes with the good humor of tall tales.

From Library Journal
This story of a clan of black folks living in Oklawaha County, Florida, is narrated by young Johnny Woodside, who has moved there from New York with his mother and sisters. The county is the home of his grandparents, Daddy Troy and Grandma Gert. Johnny, his cousins, and his sisters have one adventure and misadventure after another as they learn tough lessons about survival, self-respect, and common sense. The book rings with the humor and pain of ordinary life. Highly recommended for fiction and African American collections.?Fannette H. Thomas, Essex Community Coll. Lib., Baltimore
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
One by one, for different reasons, the children of Gertrude and Troy Woodside have returned to the family hometown in Oklawaha County, Florida, with their families. Johnny Woodside is one of the children's children and the narrator of this enchanting book. The tales of growing up in Boggy, a community close to the Oklawaha Swamp, are funny, touching, and entertaining. Johnny and his many cousins grow up getting into trouble, causing mischief, and sticking together against enemies--human and otherwise. The novel takes readers from Boggy town memories, to the confessions of the mamas and the papas, to those great life lessons. As with any small community, the history of its inhabitants, those who left and those who remained, is full of secrets. Sometimes the secrets are dangerous, and sometimes they are revealing. No matter the type, everyone can be a victim of the thang that ate granddaddy's dog, if we don't listen and learn. Lillian Lewis

Customer Reviews

A Tale That Sticks With You Long After the Story Has Ended!
I read this book three years ago and recently ordered a copy as a gift for my mother. Despite the fact that it's been three years, I still remember the characters, especially Grandma Gert, and the humor that they evoked. John Calvin Rainey did a spectacular job in capturing the true essence of African Americans in the South. It doesn't matter whether it's Florida or Arkansas, the warmth and wit knows no boundaries.

Rainey is among the pinnacle of African-American authors
I don't think I've ever "lived in a novel" as much as I have with this book. When you're reading it, you can almost feel yourself experiencing the same thoughts and actions as young Johnny, a boy who moves with his family to a rural Florida town. This is one of the few books I've read that depicts the life of rural blacks in Florida, a truly underrepresented population in American fiction. Only Zora Neale Hurston expresses this unique culture as well as Rainey, and that's saying a lot! Buy this book now!

Johnny and his cousins get into all kinds of mischief in FL
I often laughed out loud at the misadventures of Johnny and his cousins in Boggy, FL. They scavenge at the local dump, steal watermelons and mangoes, have skunks for pets, run from the wrath of grandma Gert and find five hundred pounds of marbles in an abandoned house! Rainey made me wish I'd grown up in a family like Johnny's.