Tales from a Free-Range Childhood
By Donald Davis
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
In his first new book in six years, Donald Davis, considered by many to be the father of family tales, returns to recollections of growing up in the southern Appalachians, and especially of his relationship with his sibling Joe. Davis has remarked that he “didn’t learn stories, I just absorbed them” from a family of traditional storytellers that has lived on the same western North Carolina land since 1781. Among this collection of 18 chronologically arranged stories, Davis explains why 28 second-graders petitioned the school board to reestablish paddling as their preferred form of punishment, instead of the new policy of “suspension.” He also spins family tales about how his mother was finally convinced to give his brother Joe’s naturally curly, “wasted-on-a-boy” hair its first cut; how he and his cousin Andy got fired from their job of “watching the baby”; how his brother convinced their mother to adopt her first cats; and how he got a chemistry set designated for children over 10 when he was only eight. Through his tender, often humorous stories about his life experiences, Davis captures the hearts and minds of readers while simultaneously evoking their own childhood memories. One reviewer described Davis’s storytelling style this way: “He invites each listener to come along, to pull deep inside for one’s own stories, to personally share and co-create the common experiences that celebrate the creative spirit.” Even if you can’t enjoy Davis’s storytelling live, his written voice is so strong that you will actually hear these tales as you read them.
Donald Davis grew up near Waynesville, North Carolina, before attending Davidson College. After earning a B.A. in English there, he graduated from Duke University Divinity School. For over 20 years, he was a minister in the United Methodist Church. In 1989, he became a full-time storyteller. He now tours the country 10 months a year, making approximately 300 storytelling presentations annually. Carolina, he conducts special week-long workshops on the creation and performance of personal and family stories. His workshops were the subject of a documentary film that premiered on public television in Utah in August 2010. He has been a featured storyteller at the Smithsonian Institution and the World’s Fair and a guest host for National Public Radio’sGood Evening program. He was selected for the “Circle of Excellence” by the National Storytelling Association and served as the chairman of the board of the National Association for the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling for six years. When he’s not traveling, he makes his home on Ocracoke Island.
Donald Davis
Donald Davis was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2013 and lost his wife to cancer in 2020. As long as he has a left hand that he can type with, he chooses to inspire others not to give up. He has found his faith and has chosen to live his life for Christ.
Read more from Donald Davis
Finding Your Faith Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tales from a Free-Range Childhood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cripple Joe: Stories from my Daddy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Tales from a Free-Range Childhood
Related ebooks
Imperfections: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lily's Mountain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Amish Newcomer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBog-Myrtle and Peat: “The free, far-stretching moorland—That is the land for me!” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLizzie Leigh Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mother Knew Best: Memoirs of a London Girlhood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHowards End Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bent Twig Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStarched Caps, Collars and Cuffs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Under the Country Sky Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Second Violin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCecilia Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Prairie Flowers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsZooman Sam Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Real Queen Charlotte: Inside the Real Bridgerton Court Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMolly Brown's Orchard Home Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGranger, Quilter, Grandma, Matriarch: Life on the Reiss Family Farm 1944 – 1948 St. Clair County, Illinois Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLove and Life: An Old Story in Eighteenth Century Costume Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Young Step-Mother; Or, A Chronicle of Mistakes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLittle Saint Elizabeth and Other Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Ration Book Christmas Kiss Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCountess Kate Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRaising Wrecker: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Brimming Cup Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1905 to 1906 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1907 to 1908 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarvesting Faith: Planting Dreams, #3 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sarah Thornhill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Evacuee Christmas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Girl of the Limberlost Illustrated Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Personal Memoirs For You
I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writing into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Dream House: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Solutions and Other Problems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Glass Castle: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: the heartfelt, funny memoir by a New York Times bestselling therapist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5People, Places, Things: My Human Landmarks Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yes Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whiskey in a Teacup: What Growing Up in the South Taught Me About Life, Love, and Baking Biscuits Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Choice: Embrace the Possible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bad Mormon: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Tales from a Free-Range Childhood
1 rating1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book contains short stories about he childhood of author Donald Davis. Th stories left me with a smile on my face and some even left me laughing out loud. I now feel as if I now know the family personally. I was there at the author's grandparents' home as his uncle talked about 'The Critters' who were climbing up the side of the house, searching for a way inside. I was there when the snake in the family car decided to show itself-as mom was driving. Davis is a great story teller who I am sure was more than a handful for his poor mother.