Cracker Queen, by Lauretta Hannon

Hannon grew up mostly in Warner Robins, Georgia, and presently lives in Powder Springs, Georgia. 

Some of the reviews I read prior to picking up my own copy included the following:
Lauretta's childhood experiences, growing up in Warner Robins, are told with a powerful original Southern voice with warmth and wit. Her mother and father, a jazz musician, lead by example as the perfect dysfunctional family. Through world class storytelling, Hannon relates that even through nervous breakdowns, infidelities, and alcoholism, she still felt loved and cherished. The dysfunctional family's stories such as ghost hunting, moonshine brewing, the famous Georgia Goat Man, and Crazy Aunt Carrie who gets arrested for assaulting a police dog are sure to set the record straight that nonfiction can be entertaining.  

Moving to Savannah finds the author living in an eccentric neighborhood surrounded by hellions, heroines, thugs, a woman who looks like a rutabaga, a lady who keeps Baby Jesus chained up in her front yard and a root doctor who performs a hoodoo on her. In the midst of the madness, she finds meaning and discovers joys. 

So, those are the "funny" highlights of the book. And I think reading the descriptions about her book is actually funnier than reading the book. Also claiming to be the book to move the Sweet Potato Queens on down the dirt road, I don't see that happening. In fact, I don't see any book about southern women replacing The Sweet Potato Queens, nor any chic lit, period. I’m also not quite sure why this was on the YA lit list in my county’s vertical meeting that I attended several months back. But, it intrigued me. Because the author is from Middle Georgia, and that’s where I presently reside, I wanted to check it out to see what she thought was so funny around here. I’m still wondering! One of her teachers is a county "staple" English teacher - very well respected with ions of experience. This particular vertical meeting was all about YA lit and was quite informative. There were book talks and round table talks, and this was one of the books suggested for our YA readers. So I wanted to read it. 

While parts of this book are funny, other parts are horribly sad as the author drops bombshell after bombshell of her highly dysfunctional family and her totally pitiful upbringing. This is one of those books that we could recommend to a student who is in need of connecting to something similar in life in order to make meaning or to at least know that someone else has experienced a painful childhood with unorthodox parents who also have drinking, cheating, breakdown-prone problems. Beyond that, it isn’t the “normal” YA book. It isn’t really normal anything. However, I will give it to her that she can tell stories - and that's what most of this book really sounds like, but it's supposed to all be true. 

Perhaps had I read this prior to the Sweet Potato Queens and even more, had it not been touted as the book to replace my beloved Sweet Potato Queens, I might have appreciated it more. But, I did read SPQ first. I adore Jill Conner Browne and was quite upset when I read that she was going to be in my neck of the woods, the day after she appeared. It was heart-breaking! While I’m on the subject of the SPQ, I have read all of those and have the work of fiction on an audio book and have finished about half. They claim the novel is a work of fiction about things that they didn’t do but could have and still might. The repertoire of SPQ books include The Sweet Potato Queen’s Book of Love, a cookbook, a financial instruction type book, a child rearing book, and one of my favorites – The Sweet Potato Queens' Field Guide to Men: Every Man I Love Is Either Married, Gay, or Dead, just to name a few. There is a website and the offer to become a SPQ with the opportunity to host a chapter in your very own area. If you have never read a "Queen" book, do yourself a favor and get one today! I recommend reading the first book, first. It will make better sense as Browne frequently refers to information in her prior books. 

Well, this was supposed to be about The Cracker Queen, but I veered off on a tangent about The Sweet Potato Queens. I am thinking it was because the gauntlet was tossed and I pursued. You just cannot compare cracker queens to sweet potato queens, especially in the face of she who is a sweet potato queen.

Love,

Tammy

(of course you can only understand the significance of my sign off if you have read any of the SPQ's books!)

And, while we are talking about the Sweet Potato Queens, I am not endorsing anything SPQ for YA.

ISBN-10: 1592404502

ISBN-13: 978-1592404506

Publisher: Gotham