There was a Lil' Young'n who Swallowed the South

A little girl with sun-kissed cheeks and a clear bug jar sets out across the American South, chasing fireflies under the evening stars. But when she swallows a tiny lightning bug on the shore of South Carolina, her adventure takes a turn nobody saw coming.

From the jazz-soaked bayous of Louisiana to the peach orchards of Georgia, from the smoky blue mountains of Tennessee to the sunny coast of Florida, she swallows her way through seven states and seven creatures, each one stranger than the last. A mudbug. A catfish. A yellowhammer. A fox squirrel. A hound dog singing his heart out. And finally, a dolphin leaping silver from the sea.

Her tummy gurgles, bubbles, and glows. The critters chase each other in a wild, rolling parade inside her belly. Something has to give.

Three hiccups change everything.

A cumulative rhyming adventure inspired by a beloved folk song, set beneath magnolias and Spanish moss, told in a voice as warm and sticky as sweet tea in July. Written by eleven-year-old Neely Richards, who dreamed up the whole thing one night before bed.