Missy Violet & Me( Series - Coretta Scott King/john Steptoe Award For New Talent. Author (awards) )

At turns scary, funny, and exhilarating, the rhythm of an 11-year-old girl's rural life in the South quickens as she embraces her apprenticeship to midwife Missy Violent, and finds her own special place as Missy's "best helper girl."

The summer that Viney is eleven years old is extraordinary. It takes her out of school and puts her under the wing of Missy Violet, a well-loved midwife whose wise and warm ways help teach Viney about the business of catchin' babies. Suddenly, Viney must learn about roots and herbs and their medicinal purpose, understand the contents of Missy Violet's "birthin' bag," and contend with a snooty peer and wild, irrepressible cousin--Charles Elister Paxton Nehemiah Windbush. And all this before she actually helps to deliver a single baby At turns scary, funny, and exhilarating, the rhythm of Viney's rural life in the South quickens as she embraces her apprenticeship and finds her own special place as Missy Violet's "best helper girl." Hot jiggetty