The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson   

      I think my interest in the culture of the Appalachian mountain people began when as a young girl I read Catherine Marshall’s Christy. That someplace so foreign to me could be so geographically close was fascinating and since then whenever I found something that would feed my curiosity I read it. Years ago I fell upon a book called Down Cut Shin Creek/ The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky and there it was, in photos, something akin to the bookmobiles of my youth except these bookmobiles were mules and horses taking books into the back bone of the hills. Then, the picturebook That Book Woman allowed me to open the door to the kids at school.

      So when I was offered The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Richardson I raised my hand and said, “Yes! Please!” I knew I’d be interested in this story but I didn’t know I would devour it in two sittings and be sorry it ended, not sure what I could read to follow it. We’ve all been there, right? You finish an intensely interesting book and you grieve?

      Cussy Mary Carter is one of the travelling librarians in Troublesome Creek, Kentucky. The pack Horse Librarians were part of the WPA program that gave jobs to women and brought books to people who lived in dire poverty and so deeply in the hills and hollows they didn’t have access to reading material. These were people who mined the coal and lived in such isolation they believed in their bible and superstitions. What was unknown was not to be trusted. Prejudices ran deep. Cussy Mary was one of the Blue people of Kentucky. Her skin was blue and the word “colored” took on the same meaning it did for African-Americans. Cussy’s life was ruled by what she wasn’t allowed to do including using restrooms, going to parties, picnics, even touching someone else was forbidden.

      But one thing Cussy could do was ride her mule Junia, packed with books, pamphlets and newspapers, into the hills and deliver books to people desperate for them. She knew what unkindness was and so she did her utmost to help the people living in extreme poverty with more than books. She delivered food, medicine, the mail and passed roots and seeds along the way. But she also had to keep in mind always that if something was wrong a “Blue” would be blamed and she could lose her life for it.

      The Blue people were real, the Pack Horse Librarians were real and the impact these women had on the lives of the people they served was very real. The author’s research is impeccable and this book is so enmeshed with information you are learning something about the way of life, language, customs, beliefs, how the Packhorse program worked on every single page.

      Books, something so small, can change lives and Cussy knew it. If you are reading this, you know it, too. This book is a testimony, a love letter, to books and their power and the Pack Horse Librarians. I will shelve this right next to my copy of Christy.