The Franklin News-Post
P. O. Box 250
310 Main Street, SW
Rocky Mount, Virginia 24151
540-483-5113
Fax: 540-483-8013
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Becky Mushkos latest book is Ferradiddledumday. The Penhook writer will be at the Franklin County Library on Jan. 26. |
By KEN BRADLEY - Staff Writer
Penhook resident and writer Becky Mushko's latest book, "Ferradiddledumday," an Appalachian version of "Rumpelstiltskin," will be released in January 2010.
"Ferradiddledumday" incorporates plants, animals, superstitions and farm life of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The book is in the juvenile fiction category and contains 56 pages and 32 illustrations by Bruce Ray of Moneta. It is published by Cedar Creek Publishing in Bremo Bluff.
Mushko said the book is aimed at children 7 to 12 who already know the original "Rumpelstiltskin" story and can contrast it with the original story.
In addition to children, Mushko said the book should appeal to teachers, libraries and parents who home-school their children.
"It's a perfect book for grandparents to read to visiting grandchildren," Mushko said.
Other works by Mushko include a novel, "Patches on the Same Quilt," "The Girls Who Raced Mules and Other Stories" and "Where There's a Will."
Mushko is a former English teacher, who taught for three decades at the middle school, high school and college level.
She also served as the 2006-07 writer-in-residence for Roanoke County Schools.
In addition to writing short stories and novels, Mushko conducts workshops for adults and teens and storytelling sessions for young people at libraries, literary festivals, schools and writer's conferences.
Mushko also has won several short story writing contests.
Joyce Tukloff, children's librarian at the Franklin County Library said Mushko's latest work "is pure magic, and the wild beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains is a perfect setting for the retelling of 'Rumpelstiltskin.' The story moves at a leisurely pace, leaving the reader with a sense of having visited somewhere very special. It's a story that I will read again...and again."
Tina L. Hanlon, director of the AppLit website at Ferrum College, said Mushko's latest work is "a heartwarming story about a young woman who works hard and leads a charmed life. With plants and animals from the Blue Ridge Mountains woven poetically through Gillie's encounters with a mysterious little man, the rhythms of the seasons flow through the story as naturally as the magic of the old fairy tale." |
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