More Than Penny Candy

By Dolly Withrow

Book Overview

Beautifully packaged and meticulously written, the slender volume contains gems of essays that readers in many states have already praised. The judges of the West Virginia Press Association wrote, "Dolly Withrow was the clear winner [first-place award, 2000]. Her [essays] are bitingly funny and extremely well written. What a joy to read!" Publisher of "The Jackson Herald," Mike Ruben wrote, "Dolly is an artist at the computer keyboard. An expert grammarian with an Erma Bombeck style of humor, Dolly and her popular columns have drawn new subscribers." Packed with wit, wisdom, and nostalgia, "More than Penny Candy" is sure to delight every armchair traveler, any lover of a good read. The author works language in the same way a world-renowned violinist plays a Stradivarius. In "Penny Candy" she lures her readers into a world now gone and enlivens it with powerful descriptive skills. While scenes from the '40s and '50s are brought to life, today's society is painted with a broad satiric brush that elicits sidesplitting laughter. Little wonder her prose has won both statewide and national awards.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0971038902
• ISBN13: 9780971038905
• Release Date: November 2022
• Publisher: Elk River Press
• Length: 130 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.7" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Humor and Nostalgia from Appalachia

There is an art in writing personal essays, and Dolly Withrow has mastered it. If you enjoy ironic comments on the fads and fashions of the day, like body piercing and cell phones, you will find plenty to smile at in More than Penny Candy. If you like to laugh out loud, Dolly can do that too. She can even raise a tear. I've never even been to Appalachia, but this collection made me nostalgic for a not quite vanished rural past. Most of these short pieces were originally published in The Jackson Herald, and now they have been collected into a book that everybody can enjoy.

More Than Penny Candy

...P>Such is Dolly Withrow, who grew up in those wonderful "once upon a time" years. I'll now invite the reader to accompany me on a stroll along the river of time. We'll watch a wide-eyed young girl in the mountains of West Virginia learn the wisdom of an elderly lady. We'll see her take her part in a great war effort. We'll laugh at her turning a mattress. We'll fall in love with a red bird, chuckle at the use of doublespeak and laugh outright at the differences between the genders. We'll follow Dolly as she grows beyond the days of penny candy and will emerge at the end of our stroll with smiles on our faces and perhaps, a bit wiser. Let's start with a visit to an old mom-and-pop store in the mountains. I hear they sell penny candy.

On" Re-reading "More Than Penny Candy"

When I read PENNY CANDY again, and I will, I will read it in increments only--not hurrying to the end. I must experience the magic of those days (about which Dolly writes) for as long as I can. In other words, I don't want her book to end. I want it to go on forever. . . .When the images begin to fade, I will pick up PENNY CANDY and begin reading again. . . ."Evelyn R. Smith, Charleston, WV.

Infrequent reader liked Dolly's book

I am not your usual reader. If Libraries had to depend on me for business, they would go out of business. However, I did buy MORE THAN PENNY CANDY and managed to get all the way through it. I enjoyed it because each chapter is a subject unto itself, making it easy reading. It is small, which meant I could read it quickly. It is inexpensive which means I can afford to give it as gifts to my friends who really like to read. Delightful, insightful, funny, and representative of Applachian culture, I would recommend it to everyone.