Ecology of a Cracker’s Childhood – Book Synopsis
junkyard families
The book Ecology of a Cracker Childhood by Janisse Ray charts the life of a young girl growing up with her family that owns a junkyard in Appling County, Georgia. Many experiences may have been different for her, but she still lives as many children do; with rules and playing outside with her imagination.
The main reason her book was written was to describe the life of a young girl as she grows up in a situation that most don’t encounter. She and her brothers spent many hours outside playing in the junkyard; they played baptism where one child pretended to be the shepherd and the other would be the one being baptized. Sometimes the pastor left the baptized under too long. One trait her father wanted her to have was to be able to play the piano. She hated it so much that she finally told her father that she wouldn’t play it anymore. She would rather play outside with her brothers at the junkyard. They would be very creative in what they did with their free time. They would tie gas tanks together and make a raft. She played with her dolls in the back of the car, pretending to nurse them. She loved to pretend that she was her mother.
His father is very smart. He knows how to take old beat-up cars out of other people’s hands, even if the car holds a special place in the owner’s heart. His father loves animals and cannot bear to see or hear that an animal has been tortured or hurt, big or small. He defends all animals, a carrier pigeon, a dog, a snake, a torte, a stork and a turtle.
Once a tortoise was crossing the street. A child began to play with the turtle with his foot. It was a snapping turtle and supposedly they don’t let it go until lightning strikes. The tortoise grabbed his foot and didn’t let go. The boy stomped on the ground and broke the poor turtle’s jaw. Shortly after the incident, his brothers told his father what had happened. After his father spoke to the boy, he turned to his children. He took the belt off him and spanked them all with it. He thought that he could have prevented the incident. If the boys were fighting, all he had to do was touch his belt and they would stop immediately.
On another occasion, his father found a dog lying on the side of the road. He gave the dog prescription pills he had at home to ease the pain even though he believed he would not survive the night. In the morning, he went back to check on the dog and it was still alive. He nursed him back to health and then released him. He found many animals and tried to help everyone. He found a stork that they let live in the house. Shortly after finding the stork, he built an outdoor house for her.
He even saved his son’s life once. Three of her four children are going on a boat ride and they can’t swim. The two children sat on a bench in the boat and one of them stood up because he thought he saw an alligator. The other two boys went flying overboard. It was Sunday and they had just gotten home from church. His father was still dressed in his suit and dashed after his sons just in time to save them. He would have given anything to keep them safe. He wanted to keep them so safe that he didn’t want his children to be corrupted by the outside world. He threw out the only television they had owned shortly after buying it. Also, to ensure that his children were not mocked for the way they lived, he did not allow his children to bring friends to the house. To avoid awkward situations, he also did not allow them to go to other friends’ houses.
I really liked this book as it had short stories that I could remember even a long time after reading it. Her book was very descriptive and she did a great job of showing how she grew up. It was very realistic and I hope that many people will read her book.