A review by nerfherder86
Down Cut Shin Creek: The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky by Kathi Appelt, Jeanne Cannella Schmitzer

5.0

I finally found a copy of this book to read, I've been meaning to for years! The Pack Horse Librarians is a fascinating topic that I find really cool. During the Great Depression, these librarians rode horses and mules to deliver books, newspapers and magazines--as well as handmade scrapbooks containing recipes and home remedies and articles of interest to hardy mountain folk--to their Appalachian neighbors in hard-to-reach hollers and on mountainsides in Kentucky. I was surprised to learn that they didn't have very many books to share, so that was why they took to making their own, as well as soliciting donations of used books from everyone they could find, the PTA and church groups, etc. This children's nonfiction book has lots of nice big black and white photographs of the women at work, fording creeks, even using rowboats at some points, reading to their patrons who were unable to read themselves, and sorting books in the library waystations. One chapter is written as a story of the typical day in the life of a Book Woman. The program was a big success in spreading literacy and companionship, so much so that some parents complained to librarians that their kids wouldn't do their chores any more because all they wanted to do was sit and read! (I always love to hear things like that!) The book ends with a chapter on Kentucky Congressman Carl D. Perkins, who sponsored the Library Services Act in 1956 to provide the first federal funding for library services. It paid for building new libraries, creating bookmobiles, hiring new staff, and so forth. He had taught in a Kentucky school serviced by a pack horse librarian, so that may have influenced him early on to appreciate the value of library services to those who need them most. Nice little reference book on a cool topic.