Missy Violet and Me

I could hardly wait for school to be out. Missy Violet was one of the most looked-up-to ladies in Richmond County. She knew how to bring babies into the world! "Baby catchin'" was her specialty. All of a sudden, I felt real important. "Gonna work for Missy Violet, work for Missy Violet!" I sang softly under my breath. "Gonna catch a baby!"

The summer that Viney is eleven years old is extraordinary. It takes her out of school and puts her under the wing of Missy Violet, a well-loved midwife whose wise and warm ways help teach Viney about the business of catchin babies. At turns scary, funny, and exhilarating, the rhythm of Vineys rural life in the South quickens as she embraces her apprenticeship and finds her own special place as Missy Violets "best helper girl."

During the early 1900s, eleven-year-old Viney spends her summer working for the local midwife and learns firsthand about birth, death, and "catchin' babies."