Appalachia · the Appalachian mountains
The heroes of this story.
Overalls-era, patched coat; trades the cow for beans, climbs past the clouds, and says "I'm scared" brave and out loud. Never the hillbilly caricature.
Turkey head, one black wing, one pink wing, seven speckled eggs in an upside-down nest. Only wants to know where you've been — the memory-keeper, never the "dumb" joke.
Stubby-legged, steam from its nostrils, whistles like a boiling teakettle. Walks backwards by choice; protection, already on duty.
Her quilt's patches are memories; "the crooked stitch is the one that holds."
Writes Jack a letter teaching him "frijol" — it means bean.
When Jack trades the cow for beans, the beans grow past the clouds, and he climbs to a backwards bird's upside-down nest. Going down is the hard part — so the Goofus, who memorized the way up backwards, flies him home. At the bottom the Teakettler's backwards tracks mean protection is on duty, and a letter from Cata teaches him a new word: frijol. "Music is the thing that gathers everyone — even the ones who fly backwards, even the ones who whistle from the woods."
Free coloring pages from this book · how-to-draw the friends · watch the episode on YouTube.
