Almost as much a nature book as the human nature book it is, Yocona Puff Adder's first person storyline shares little-known facts that demonstrate life is more interesting than simple fiction. Developed around real-life events and twisted truths in the unique genre of historical fiction, this coming-(and going)of-age novel is more than a memoir. Portrayals of characters with only a tad more than their names camouflaged are powerfully close to veritable.
While these 51 chapters could be stand-alone short stories, continuity carries over from one chapter into the next. Constantly tested in segreagated Mississippi, the normail bigotry of the times can't stand up to the unreserved friendship of these motherless seven-year-olds. Childhood for city boy Scott and country Charlie Boy is grounded in mischief around Oxford's Bailey Woods and the rural community of Taylor.
A healthy respect for each other during youth is gained through backwoods and riverbottom adventures. The Yocona and Tallahatchie Rivers nuture them to the teen years, where they help each other to take charge of their lives.
Dealing in a heroic tone that's head on with joys and sorrows and their passions and horrors, the two boys' encounters include interactionos with Weekend Warriors and the Klan. Summer jobs begin to roughhew boys into men before the powerful responsibilities of adulthood push them apart: college forestry vs. logging the woods;grad school vs. a tour in Vietnam; and professional vs. technical careers with the natural resources.
After retirement, Scott continues uniquely through volunteerism with challenges in the conservation community. Stretched from commonplace through controversial, C.B. sees senile citizenship with a heart-warming acceptance at Golden Olden...until there's a twist that neither Scott nor you expect.
