The Gulf Coast: A Literary Field Guide (Stories from Where We Live Series) Book

Spanning Texas to Florida, the Gulf Coast is one of America’s most distinct regions. This book, comprised of poems, essays, journal entries, and information on the area’s natural features, reveals the region’s remarkable richness. With stops in such uniquely southern locales as Texas’s Neches River Bottom, Mississippi’s Pascagoula, and Louisiana’s Bayou Dorcheat, the book introduces dynamic past and present inhabitants of the area, including Choctaw Indians, fur traders, cotton farmers, and city kids. Readers also encounter wild creatures such as rattlesnakes, alligators, mosquitoes, panthers, manatees, and whooping cranes. Literary selections by Zora Neale Hurston, Barry Hannah, E. O. Wilson, Joseph Bruchac, John James Audubon, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and other writers with ties to the Gulf Coast pay tribute to the region’s strong storytelling tradition. Maps and 30 black-and-white illustrations are included.

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This edition is "designed for kids and families who love both literature and the natural world." The stories, both fiction and nonfiction as well as poetry, are usually short and usually about both the creatures, human and nonhuman, and the environment. The selection includes famous authors like Zora Neale Hurston, John James Audubon and Marjory Stoneman Douglas as well as work from private diaries of early settlers, longtime residents and visitors. The chapter titles show the breadth of the collection: Adventures, Great Places, Reapers and Sowers, and Wild Lives. The depth of the collection is indicated by the dates of some of the entries, from the 1800s to the present, and the diversity of subjects, from Southern cooking to alligator hunting. The book is filled with maps by Paul Mirocha and illustrations by Trudy Nicholson, which capture the spirit of the region. Appendixes that "define" the region, its habitats, animals, and plants and the index that categorizes the entries by state and lists parks and preserves along with recommended reading make this an excellent volume for use in the classroom. It is sure to inspire some future environmentalists and biologists as well as some family adventures. (Editor's note: Also available is The South Atlantic Coast and Piedmont; a literary field guide. Milkweed. 231p. illus. maps. c2006. ISBN 1571316647. )