This is a remarkable, indeed quite unique book. The rhymes are from the mountains in the sense that the author, Mike Norris, is from Eastern Kentucky. They are not traditional rhymes, though they are consistent with the spirit of folk rhymes. And Mike Norris is the father of Carri Norris, one of our outstanding contemporary traditional singers who is kin, on her mother’s side, to Lily Mae Ledford of the Coon Creek Girls, a popular and barrier-breaking woman’s string band in the 1930s. The illustrator, Minnie Adkins, has achieved icon status by herself as a wood carver, and illustrates this book with custom-made carvings to match Mike Norris’s rhymes. Truly a tour-de-force all the way around. Here’s hoping that some of today’s kids will appreciate it!
Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2016. 42 pages with carved illustrations by Minnie Adkins. Oversized hardback with pictorial cover