In his first new book in six years, renowned storyteller Donald Davis returns to his recollections of growing up in the southern Appalachians.The twenty chronologically arranged stories in Tales from a Free-Range Childhood follow Davis from his early years terrorizing his younger brother, Joe, through his teenage travails of getting braces and discovering he isn't quite man enough for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.Readers will cringe as Davis gives Joe's naturally curly, "wasted-on-a-boy" hair its first cut. They'll laugh as he and his second-grade classmates petition the school board to reestablish paddling as their preferred form of punishment, instead of the new policy of "suspension." They'll relive their own memories as Davis falls under the sway of a would-be Elvis in "The Ducktail." They'll appreciate the sleight of hand as he and his mischievous father parlay a blown engine into a considerable upgrade in "The New Old Car."Donald Davis's stories have been described as "absolutely hilarious and unpredictable as well as emotionally reviving." This new collection reaffirms why he is considered by many to be the father of the family tale.