"Kiss Your Elbow" — A Kentucky Memoir

Book excerpt: You’ll want to spend every minute of your time with the O’Daniel Family, experiencing their simple adventures in a way that only this oldest daughter can weave them. Written with a sense of hope and an amazing capture of mid-twentieth century detail, you will enjoy the opportunity to: Revisit big department stores again, when Louisville’s only place to shop was downtown Spend a delightful day at Fontaine Ferry, Louisville’s famous amusement park Be part of the quarrels, love and joy – feeling the bonds of this close knit era, when dependence on family members and neighbors was essential. Experience farm life in the suburbs. Deanna’s classmates jumped rope in subdivisions while the O’Daniels slopped hogs, killed chickens, and hoped they went to school without smelling like the animals they tended. Only a few can tell their story coherently like Deanna does with this touching memoir. First born in a large rural family, she relates her passage through childhood with charming and accurate descriptions of life in Kentuckiana. A chronicle of many customs and places that are fast slipping away from our collective memories, such as her description of the country store in Nelson County, Kentucky. A book you will tell others, “I’m so fond of this one.” John Allen Boyd, Emerson Avery, That Latin Teacher Deanna’s story is of dedicated parents and (eventually) 11 children. They migrated near Louisville, Kentucky when Deanna was five. Her stories about those formative years paint a portrait in glowing colors, depicting struggles and love that molds and endures. You will love Deanna and her story. Terry Cummins, Feed My Sheep O’Daniel, a gifted writer who tightly weaves her life’s journey through stories that makes growing up on a farm sound like sunshine. She shares the daily toil, angst and rivalry associated with a large family in a humorous, but realistic way – tugging at your heart for a piece of those bygone days. Corrider Jones, A Backward Glance