Mountain State, Country Roads: West Virginia in Fiction for Kids

Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue ridge mountains, Shenandoah river –
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, growin’ like a breeze.

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads.

All my memories gathered round her
Miner’s lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrops in my eye.

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads.

I hear her voice in the mornin hour she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
And drivin’ down the road I get a feelin’
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads . . .

In addition to Ruth White’s 2007 book, Way Down Deep, here are some other books for children set in the heavenly mountains of West Virginia:

Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. Newbery Medal book in 1992. Joanne, The Simple Wife, reviews Shiloh.

Wrestle the Mountain by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

A Blue-Eyed Daisy by Cynthia Rylant.

Missing May by Cynthia Rylant. Newbery Medal book for 1993. Sandy D. reviews Missing May.

The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars. Newbery Medal book for 1971. Betsy reviews The Summer of the Swans.

Mine Eyes Have Seen by Ann Rinaldi. John Brown’s daughter, Annie, tells the story of the events leading up to the raid on Harper’s Ferry.

There are three Newbery award-winning books set in West Virginia? What’s up with that? It seems as if that’s more than West Virginia’s fair share? Good books, anyway.

Other suggestions?

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