Blog Tour: Rural Voices Edited by Nora Shalaway Carpenter (Guest Post + Giveaway!)

Happy Friday and welcome to my stop on the RURAL VOICES blog tour! I’m so excited because today I have a guest post by David Macinnis Gill to share with you! This book is truly amazing and I’m so so excited to for you to find out more about it, PLUS enter for a chance to win a print copy!

Rural Voices: 15 Authors Challenge Assumptions About Small-Town America by Nora Shalaway Carpenter, David Bowles, Joseph Bruchac, Veeda Bybee, Shae Carys, S.A. Cosby, Rob Costello, Randy DuBurke, David Macinnis Gill, Nasugraq Rainey Hopson, Estelle Laure, Yamile Saied Méndez, Ashley Hope Pérez, Tirzah Price, Monica Roe
Published on October 13, 2020 by Candlewick Press
Genres: YA, Contemporary, Anthology
Pages: 336
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Think you know what rural America is like? Discover a plurality of perspectives in this enlightening anthology of stories that turns preconceptions on their head.
Gracie sees a chance of fitting in at her South Carolina private school, until a "white trash"-themed Halloween party has her steering clear of the rich kids. Samuel's Tejano family has both stood up to oppression and been a source of it, but now he's ready to own his true sexual identity. A Puerto Rican teen in Utah discovers that being a rodeo queen means embracing her heritage, not shedding it. . . .
For most of America's history, rural people and culture have been casually mocked, stereotyped, and, in general, deeply misunderstood. Now an array of short stories, poetry, graphic short stories, and personal essays, along with anecdotes from the authors' real lives, dives deep into the complexity and diversity of rural America and the people who call it home. Fifteen extraordinary authors - diverse in ethnic background, sexual orientation, geographic location, and socioeconomic status - explore the challenges, beauty, and nuances of growing up in rural America. From a mountain town in New Mexico to the gorges of New York to the arctic tundra of Alaska, you'll find yourself visiting parts of this country you might not know existed - and meet characters whose lives might be surprisingly similar to your own.

10 Random Things About Me

1. My father was a house painter, and I started working as a painter, climbing ladders, scraping paint, trimming windows, etc. when I was six years old.
2. One night, I went cow tipping and in the dark, tried to tip over a bull. The bull was not happy. I learned that I can run very fast with a bull on my heels.
3. I twice helped pull down goalposts during after football games at the University of Tennessee. At one game, we managed to rush the field before the game was over. I found myself on the 20-yard line as a wide receiver streaked by. Security chased us back into the stands.
4. I can whistle and hum at the same time. I have found no practical use for this skill, except that it makes my dog attack my face.
5. I really did get kicked out of Sunday school for asking too many questions.
6. I had an uncle who was bald on top, so he grew a shank of hair on the side of his head, swirled it like an ice cream cone over the bald spot, and tacked it down with hairspray and brown paint.
7. We used to catch crawdads from the creek and close their pincher on our ears so that it looked like we wore mud-bug earrings.
8. I caught a catfish that had 17 lures stuck in its mouth. They look like war medals. Any catfish that had escaped that much deserved to be set free. I so did.
9. When I was a senior, my American History teacher used to let me teach his class. He also asked me to teach his Current Events class.
10. My father taught me to play poker at age 11. When family would come to visit, he would laugh as I took my aunts’ and uncles’ money. I was not their favorite nephew.

David Macinnis Gill is an associate professor of English education at UNC Washington, specializing in young-adult literature, and a faculty member at the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. His novel Soul Enchilada was an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, a Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of the Year, a Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Yea, and a New York Public Library Stuff for the Teen Age selection. He is also the author of Uncanny and the award-winning Black Hole Sun series, and his work has appeared on a dozen state “best” lists.

 

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Enter here for a chance to win a print copy of RURAL VOICES edited by Nora Shalaway Carpenter!

Have you added this book to your tbr yet? Let me know in the comments and have a splendiferous day!