Tuesday, August 30th from 2:00-7:00PM, Julia Taylor Ebel will launch her latest book, Mama's Wreaths at the Jamestown Public Library in Jamestown, North Carolina. Ebel will begin her launch with a talk, a reading, and a wreath-making demonstration, to be followed by a book signing.
Mama's Wreaths
Mama’s Workshop
The kitchen table
will hold no mealtime dishes,
not till nearly Christmas time.
Till then,
it’s Mama’s workshop.
To me,
that workshop is Christmas—
the kitchen
full of hemlock,
fir,
and pine tips
full of the delicious scent
of needles
and resin
that creeps
through our house
the way fog creeps
into mountain hollows.
The kitchen at Joanie’s mountain home is filled with fresh fir and hemlock branches, evergreens that Mama will use as she makes wreaths to sell before Christmas. Joanie is eager to learn to make wreaths like Mama’s. As Mama patiently guides her, Joanie learns not only about wreath making, but also about trust and joy—lessons entwined with fragrant evergreen. Joanie’s story unfolds through a garland of gentle free verse poems that readers of all ages will savor.
Mama’s Wreaths speaks to the heart of persons whose lives are neither glamorous nor ordinary, and it affirms the importance of their uniquely rich experience. As are Julia Taylor Ebel's six other books, Mama’s Wreaths is inspired by the lives of real people—in this case, the wreath-making experiences of writer M. Joann Moretz and her family. Mama’s Wreaths invites us all to look with gentle hearts toward those unseen faces and unheard stories of so many who touch our lives with joy.
In Mama’s Wreaths, Julia Taylor Ebel’s dedication to keeping cultural stories shines through. As she weaves slices of life, she reminds us of the importance of passing on the knowledge, traditions, and stories we value.
Mama’s Wreaths includes end notes on wreath making in western North Carolina, Christmas tree production, and simple instructions on making a wreath.
Enhanced by Joann Moretz’s keen eye for detail and Julia Ebel’s delicate pencil sketches, Mama’s Wreaths is a heartwarming story to be read and shared at Christmas and throughout the year.
Reflecting on Mama’s Wreaths, Joann Moretz says, “This story is a treasure of mixed jewels of my childhood memories, Appalachian mountain life, the passing on of a family craft, and much more.”
Other writers offer praise:
“The story is old and true—and fresh and new. Every page that Julia Taylor Ebel and Joann Moretz set down here smells like Christmas.”
–Fred Chappell, former NC Poet Laureate and author of Shadow Box
“Beautifully crafted as one of Mama’s wreaths, this charming collection of narrative poems, strung together like cranberries on a Christmas tree…. Inspiring, warm and authentic, the story of Mama’s Wreaths will quickly enfold you in its pine-scented arms—become a family tradition as beloved as placing a wreath on your own front door.”
–Terri Kirby Erickson, author of In the Palms of Angels
“… sensitive poem story…. The simplicity of Joanie’s voice rings true, and her fears, longings and insights resonate beyond life in the mountains. Mama’s Wreaths is a Christmas story and more…. [Ebel] paints her resilient young protagonists, their families and the magnificent mountain landscape with a delicate brush, revealing beauty of place and character honed by the demands of mountain living.”
–Patricia Koehler, co-author of Oakdale Cotton Mill
Julia Taylor Ebel celebrates nature, heritage and cultural history through stories and poetry. Her six previous books include Dresses, Dreams and Beadwood Leaves and Jack Tales and Mountain Yarns as Told by Orville Hicks. She has over 50 nature poems published in Cricket, Pockets and other magazines. Ebel visits schools, libraries, and community groups to present programs and workshops on poetry and keeping our stories. She lives in Jamestown, North Carolina, where she makes an evergreen wreath for her door each Christmas; but she frequently spends time in the North Carolina mountains. There she finds inspiration for much of her writing. . www.juliaebel.com
M. Joann Moretz, a native of Watauga County, North Carolina, holds childhood Christmas memories of the family kitchen and occasionally the backyard shed serving as workshops for her mother’s wreath making. Her grandmother Sarah, older sister Brenda, and other family members also learned the craft of wreath making as did many Appalachian Mountain women.
Mama's Wreaths is affordably priced at $10.95 for softcover (ISBN 978-098290543-2), the book is available locally and in bookstores and online bookstores nationally.
Bookstores, Wholesalers, and Librarians order books from John F. Blair Publisher:
(800) 222-9796 / www.blairpub.com
