Memories of Mississippi: Growing Up in the South

                       Memories of Mississippi

In new book, a writer remembers a childhood filled with the highs and lows of a country in transition

LIBERTY, MS.- The new book by Wanda F. Jackson has already drawn praise from educators. School administrator Madeline P. Floyd notes:

     (It) is more than a description of life in the South. It is a window into an era where there is love, trust, and strong family values. People took time to enjoy, even in the midst of hard times and adversity, the simple and pure things of life.

As "the simple and pure things of life" become all the more important during our struggling economy and as America lumbers down a post-Civil Rights road, complete with an African-American family in the White House, Memories of Mississippi: Growing Up in the South is as timely book as ever.

Jackson takes readers down memory lane as she recounts growing up in the small town of Buena Vista, Mississippi. Told in charming vignettes which call to mind Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street. Jackson deftly navigates the memory, recalling everything from the excitement of her family gathering around a radio to listen to the Sonny Liston vs. Floyd Patterson fight or the heartbreak of watching her childhood friend deal with a pre-teen pregnancy.

Memories of Mississippi  lends to a breathtaking accuracy of not only one little girll's world, but the world the entire country found itself in during that era.