Think you know what rural America is like?
15 Authors Challenge Assumptions About Small-Town America
For most of America’s history, rural people and culture have been casually mocked, stereotyped, and, in general, deeply misunderstood. Now an array of short stories, poetry, graphic short stories, and personal essays, along with anecdotes from the authors’ real lives, dives deep into the complexity and diversity of rural America and the people who call it home.
A Junior Library Guild
Gold Standard Selection
Nautilus Gold Award
& Nautilus Special Honors
as Best of Mid-Grade/YA
Texas Library Association
TAYSHAS selection
YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults 2022 Selection
A Bank Street Best Book of the Year
2021-2022 Whippoorwill Book Award
“Providing an impactful opening is Monica M. Roe’s “The Unhealthy Breakfast Club,” highlighting the unlikely friendship among four scholarship students from below the poverty line at an elite school in South Carolina.”
“a too-short story with a voice so good it’ll leave you wishing for a full-length novel.”
Country Living Front Porch Book Club
Country Living Magazine Front Porch Book Club Pick
“…a layered, compelling collection that helps close the distances between us all”
Cynthia Leitich Smith, author of HeCulture Unbroken, for NPR
An NPR Best Book of 2020
“A fresh and highly accessible contribution”
“Particularly rich storytelling”
“From upstate New York to the middle of Alaska, these stories span geographic as well as emotional landscapes.”
“a must-purchase for libraries serving middle and high school readers”
Rural Voices in the media
November 2021
Guest Post: Nora Shalaway Carpenter & Challenging the Rural Stereotype
Posted at Cynsations
September 2021
Monica Roe on ‘The Unhealthy Breakfast Club’ and Why Your Stories Have Value
Posted at Conspiracy of Ravens: a Raven Quill Literary Agency blog
