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Listening for the Crack of Dawn
- Narrated by: Donald Davis
- Length: 1 hr and 57 mins
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Publisher's summary
These stories of growing up in Appalachia in the 1950s are funny and true, nostalgic and bittersweet. The characters are memorable: Miss Martha Anne Butler, "the last surviving member of a failed Southern family", whose grocery deliveries always included two pints of gin; the Reverend N.N. Upchurch, old Preacher No-No, whose nickname "pretty well summed up his opinion on most subjects"; and Aunt Laura, who knew to listen for the crack of dawn.
Our narrator faces the trials of growing up with humor, hope, and (usually) good grace. He saves Blue Horse Notebook Paper coupons to buy the world's heaviest coaster bike, engages in games of "Daring Miss Butler", taunts the shadowy Terrell Tubbs with his buddies, and uses the resources of his electronics class to invent a keyless ignition for Red McElroy's Ford pickup. The sweet and painful memories are all here, told in a storyteller's voice.
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Storyteller Donald Davis had a very sensible mother. She had a pretty good idea of what boys would do, so she was always on the lookout. As Davis later learned, always being on the lookout is what mamas do. His vigilant but gentle mother gave her son multiple gifts in life and, as we learn in the end, gifts that do not end with her passing.
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Spoken with a happy heart!
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An eccentric schoolteacher and a widow-lady babysitter are the heroines in these new digital studio recordings of Donald Davis' two all-time most-requested stories. "It was the 42nd year she had taught fourth grade", yet there was nothing routine about Miss Daisy or her methods. Rather than settle for textbook work (Miss Daisy left textbooks in the big closet) she took her class on a year-long imaginary world tour.
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This is how I wish my teacher would have been.
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Dr. York, Miss Winnie, and the Typhoid Shot
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In rural North Carolina, in 1951, despite parental reassurances, a typhoid shot hurt. It hurt even more when the children saw who would be administering the shot: Miss Winnie, a large, dictatorial nurse who had been "especially built by the nursing school so she would never blow away in a hard wind".
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Donald Davis is always a super entertainer.
- By DQwannaB on 10-20-16
By: Donald Davis
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Stanley Easter
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There was a time during Donald Davis's college freshman year when he wasn't really sure he wanted to claim his hometown of Sulpher Springs, North Carolina. But a boy by the name of Stanley Easter changed Davis's mind.
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Spellbinding!
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The Southern Bells
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When the Southern Bells brought the telephone to rural North Carolina, it looked like a "big black daffodil". What the telephone company had not counted on in conceiving its eight-party line service was a pair of "past-middle-age, unmarried sisters", the chatty Misses Lucy and Lena Leatherwood. Once the Leatherwood sisters were connected by the Southern Bells, nobody else on that line had a chance!
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the narrator
- By Anonymous User on 12-26-23
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In Too Much Hair!, Donald Davis focuses on the trouble with little brothers, especially his own. In the title story, he gives his little brother the haircut he badly needs. The next story explains how he came to be permanently fired as his brother's babysitter. The third tale recounts one of the many science projects for which his brother served as Davis's personal chemistry set. These stories will call forth memories from anyone who has had to live with siblings.
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Loved it
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Four Jack Tales from the Appalachian oral tradition, recorded by a nationally accalimed storyteller. In this collection, Jack has a little trouble adjusting to the workaday world and to personal financial management. Eventually he works hard enough, but his fortunes do not seem to parallel his productivity. Jack finally has to go a bit out of his way to prove himself, meanwhile dealing with a prospective father-in-law who plays hard to get.
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Grandma's house was a magical place, and in this vivid memoir, Donald Davis makes it possible for each of us to go back to our own grandma's kitchen, clutter room, living room, and to that immeasurable bed that seemed to swallow us whole. This selection also contains a traditional story Davis learned from his grandmother, one handed down through his family from generations who once lived in Scotland before coming to the Appalachian mountains, about the time that fortune-seeker named Jack made the king mad.
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Room of My Own
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Sibling rivalry. Sometimes, a kid just isn't ready for some little squirt to come along and invade his space, his own room. So what if there's an extra bed in the room; isn't that where the stuffed animals are supposed to sleep? How could a couple of otherwise sensible parents just bring a new kid home without even consulting their very own son? Still, a younger sibling can be in need of a big brother's guidance.
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Grandma's Lap Stories
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From the heart of the Appalachian Mountains come these folktales and folk rhymes for young children. In this recording of timeless children's tales, Davis, one of our most gifted storytellers, weaves for a new generation the same tales his grandmother told him as he sat in her lap so many years ago.
By: Donald Davis
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Party People
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Two new Appalachian stories from the author of the award winning Listening for the Crack of Dawn; an ideal introduction to contemporary storytelling for adults. Both stories are based upon real people. In the first, a disastrous birthday enables a child to learn more than an adult possibly could. In the second, two unusual people live their conviction that people are more important than things.
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See Rock City
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"Years later," Donald Davis remember of his childhood," I came to realize that when you come from a long-dammed-up Scots-Irish gene pool it is an okay thing to wish for something, but it is not an OK thing to get it."
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Excellent
- By Donald on 05-21-03
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Father was a Wise Old Man
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Joe Davis was in his mid-40s when he became a father, and the experience he was able to apply in raising his sons lent creativity to his parenting. The five stories here recall the wisdom of fathers with humor and rich detail: a visit to the Smithsonian inspires father's memory; father "cures" a boy's impulse to try cigarettes; Santa Claus learns an important lesson; and someone plays a trick on a visiting preacher.
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Memories
- By B. Lowe on 01-26-16
By: Donald Davis
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Rainy Weather
- By: Donald Davis
- Narrated by: Donald Davis
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Traditional values abound in these hilarious stories from Appalachia: friendship, family, orderliness, humor, and delight in an especially inventive practical joke. In "Rainy Weather", a hound dog with more heart than sense wins everyone's admiration. "Uncle Frank Learns to Speak Polish" finds Davis' famous Uncle Frank making the most of a little foreign language. And, in "Uncle Frank Clean Up the Post Office", cleanliness is next to godliness, and it's also next to hilarity.
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great funny book!
- By Kara J. Yocom on 11-25-23
By: Donald Davis
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Christmas at Grandma's
- By: Donald Davis
- Narrated by: Donald Davis
- Length: 43 mins
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The warmth of the Christmas season is condensed into this single collection that will rekindle your Christmas memories. Who doesn't remember Christmas at Grandma's? The living room aglow with family and friends, the kitchen like a factory of sweet aromas, the relatives everywhere! Donald Davis captures the spirit of Christmas as seen through the eyes of a child in these stories: "Christmas in Sulpher Springs", "The Children's Christmas Party", "The Year My Brother Almost Died", and "The Red Scooters."
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The ending of the Christmas play.
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By: Donald Davis
Editorial reviews
Wise . . . touching . . . funny . . . sad . . .Donald Davis is all these, plus just plain captivating. For twenty years a Methodist minister, he found his true calling as a professional storyteller. In these four original stories he reminisces about his childhood in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina, in a small town that sounds very like Lake Wobegone. But there the resemblance stops. Although appearing to ramble as much as Garrison Keillor, Donald Davis gives each story a spin and a polish that leaves the listener wiser at the end.
Critic reviews
"As wholesome as milk." (Raleigh News and Observer)
"Davis has interconnected this set of stories in such a way as to create a place...as memorable as Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon." (Lexington Herald-Leader)
What listeners say about Listening for the Crack of Dawn
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kristi L. Grady
- 08-12-18
Excellent Listen
We have enjoyed listening to Donald Davis’ books as we travel. This one is excellent.
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Overall
- Robin
- 04-15-03
Outstanding stories. Outstanding Narrator
My family and I listened to this in the car on a weekend trip. None of us were ready for it to end. My kids, ages 13 and 11, were particularly struck by the ending of the last story. You have to listen to this title!
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6 people found this helpful
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- Nancy Christiansen
- 12-27-21
Great storytelling!
I LOVE Don Davis storytelling! always fascinating! His stories pull me in and keep me interested.
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- Felicia Johnson
- 12-05-16
A Wonderful Walk Down Memory Lane!
I was talking to my 17 year old son early this morning and said something about the crack of dawn. Out of a recess in my mind came a fracture of memory. One of my teachers from Berclair Elem. School used to play a record of folk stories to us sometimes. It's such a vague memory that I only know I was very young and I remember it being several stories, but the only one I remembered anything about was one where a very old woman would run out of the kitchen, across the back porch and into the porch rail and dish water flew into the yard and something about snuff. That was all I had to go on, but I really hoped I might find these stories I last heard on a record in the early 80's. Finding this as a possibility and then seeing it was available on Audible was like it was written in the stars. I use Kindle/Audible literally every single day. I had to listen to the sample to see if this was what I was looking for. I was thrilled to hear it was. $5.95 and after 3 decades, I once again listened to the Crack of Dawn with a smile on my face from start to finish! While I can't say I remembered the others, I remembered that first one PERFECTLY, even down to certain parts of the way it was read and the way words were said. I truly enjoyed this recording and will have to try out other stories by this author to see if I can find others I might remember.Thank you so very much for the joy these have brought me, both then and now! What a wonderful memory to rediscover!
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Overall
- CICADA
- 03-04-03
Donald's Finest moment
We have listen to this audible over and over. I first had it as a tape and got it as an audible. Choices cost us something and this audible is an example of insight and lessons. Really good for 12 to 17 years old as some of the material is geared to that age.
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6 people found this helpful
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- DR
- 05-16-21
Family friendly
This is a very good family listen. it includes important life lessons, told in a relaxing way that holds your attention.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-21-21
sensational
how can you cry and laugh so hard all in one story? Mr Davis is the best of the best!!
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- K K
- 10-03-22
ABRIDGED!!!
This is not the whole book and several references in the abridged version are to pieces that have been removed. It’s missing so many good sections!!
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1 person found this helpful